Canon of Pure Brightness and Filial Devotion 净明忠孝全书

Its original title reads Compiled by Huang Yuanji, the Preaching Master of Pure Brightness; Revised by Xu Hui, his Successor Disciple.

The book was completed in the 4th year of the Taiding reign of the Yuan Dynasty (1327). The original version consists of six volumes and is included in the Taiping Section of the The Daozang.

Canon of Pure Brightness and Filial Devotion

It serves as the primary source for studying the history and doctrines of the Pure Brightness Daoist school in the Yuan Dynasty. Volume One contains seven biographies of the school's patriarchs, including Xu Xun, Zhang Yun, Hu Huichao, Guo Pu, Liu Yu, Huang Yuanji and Xu Hui — among which the biographies of Huang Yuanji and Xu Hui were presumably added by later generations. Volume Two includes five short essays such as Record of the Jade True Numinous Treasure Altar, Treatise on the Great Dao of Pure Brightness, Treatise on the Daoist Methods of Pure Brightness, Treatise on the Methods of Pure Brightness and Memorial for Establishing the Jade True Altar. These works are falsely attributed to the revelations of ancient masters like Xu Xun, Hu Huichao and Guo Pu, and were actually composed by Liu Yu, the patriarch of the Pure Brightness Dao in the Yuan Dynasty. Each essay elaborates on the school's tenets, Daoist methods, precepts, as well as the prophecies that Liu Yu would become the new patriarch of the Pure Brightness Dao. Volumes Three to Five are the recorded sayings of Liu Yu, divided into three collections: Inner, Outer and Separate. His teachings center on The Dao of "Pure Brightness, Loyalty and Filial Piety", stating that "Pure Brightness simply means rectifying the mind and sincere the will; loyalty and filial piety simply mean upholding the moral order of society". With Pure Brightness, loyalty and filial piety as the foundation, one practices them in daily life, restrains anger and curbs desires — then the heart fire descends, the kidney water rises, and one attains immortality and longevity naturally without seeking it deliberately. He also claimed that cultivating the inner self with Pure Brightness, loyalty and filial piety is the fundamental of practicing the Pure Brightness Daoist methods such as prayer for blessing and ritual deliverance of the deceased. Volume Six contains Questions and Answers with Master Zhonghuang, the recorded sayings of Huang Yuanji, a disciple of Liu Yu. His teachings are largely consistent with Liu Yu's, with a special emphasis on restraining anger and curbing desires. He held that a True Person is one who "merely restrains anger and curbs desires, reforms errors and pursues goodness, understands the Dao and restores one's innate nature, aligns with heaven and earth to form the Three Ultimates, and lives up to the way of humans — such a person is called a True Person".

The Pure Brightness doctrines expounded in the entire book draw heavily on the mind-nature cultivation and the ethical concepts of loyalty and filial piety from Neo-Confucianism, while also inheriting the traditional Daoist practices of Taoist Talismans for prayer and blessing, as well as the cultivation of nature and life. It is a typical embodiment of the fusion of Confucianism and Daoism.