Esoteric Arts of Daoist Nourishment 神仙养生秘术

The compiler is unknown.

Judging from its content, it was probably compiled between the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.

It was revised by Chen Xianwei, also known as Baoyi Zi, a Taoist Priest of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Consisting of one volume, it is included in the Methods category of the Dongshen Section in The Daozang.

This book collects forty secret elixir formulas and techniques. Among them are external alchemy and gold-silver transmutation arts, which involve refining mineral medicines such as mercury and sulfur to convert base metals into gold and silver—its ingredient compatibility adheres to the theoretical system of Five Elements in Taoist philosophy. It also contains formulas for achieving longevity through ingestion, such as taking raw Rehmannia glutinosa, Tribulus terrestris, black beans, immortal wine, etc., aiming to attain the state of avoiding grains without hunger and prolonging life. Additionally, there are techniques for making sacred candles and fuel-saving lamps, which can make a single candle or one tael of lamp oil burn continuously for a month. Each technique clearly specifies the dosage of medicinal ingredients, production methods, and necessary utensils such as bottles, boilers, tripods, and cauldrons.

At the end of the book is "Memorial on Presenting the Grain-Abstinence Formula" written by Liu Jingxian, a Gentleman of the Yellow Gate, in the second year of Yongning in the Later Zhao Dynasty (351 AD). He claimed to have obtained a grain-abstinence formula from a hermit in Mount Taibai and specially presented it to alleviate the high rice prices in the capital. As a typical practice of Internal Alchemy health preservation, the formula involves steaming five sheng of black beans, drying them in the sun, and removing their skins; soaking three sheng of hemp seeds in boiling water overnight, drying them, and removing their skins; grinding these two ingredients together with soybeans, mixing with glutinous rice porridge, forming into fist-sized pills, and steaming them overnight. It is claimed that taking three pills each time: "The first dose keeps one from hunger for seven days, the second dose for forty-nine days, and the third dose for three hundred days, with a radiant and youthful appearance."