Jade Stele of Grand Clarity
The original text bears no author's name.
The Bibliographic Treatise of the History of the Song Dynasty catalogs this work in one scroll, with a note stating: "Dialogues between Ge Hong and Zheng Hui (Si)yuan".
However, judging from its content and wording, it is undoubtedly a work falsely attributed to ancient figures by Taoist priests between the Tang and Song dynasties.
Jade Stele of Grand Clarity
The existing version in The Daozang is one scroll, included in the Various Arts category of the Dongshen Section.
The first half of the text is framed as dialogues between Ge Hong and Zheng Siyuan, expounding the ways of preserving the spirit and the body in wholeness, as well as refining elixirs from metals and stones—the art of External Alchemy.
It states that the two essences of the yang soul and yin spirit in the human body contend with each other, thereby giving birth to the divine intellect; practicing Taoist arts and techniques can preserve the spirit and the body in wholeness. Taoist techniques include guided breathwork and embryonic breathing, controlling essence return with the feminine, and ingesting elixirs to preserve the body, among others. "One yin and one yang constitute the Dao; one metal and one stone constitute the elixir." When metals and stones are combined, and Yin and Yang are in balance, the essence of metal and fluid of stone fuse and refine into an elixir. Ingesting it can strengthen the muscles and bones, overcome calamities, and transcend the mortal world.
The second half of the text compiles ballads and formulas concerning the refinement of golden essence and stone fluid, and the forging of elixirs from lead and mercury. These include The Ballad of the Jade Vase, The Supreme Lord’s Instructions to the Celestial Master, Oral Formulas from the Supreme Purity Scripture, The Ballad of Yin Changsheng, The Dragon-Tiger Formula, The Five Metals Ballad, The Great Reverted Elixir Ballad, The Three-in-One Method of the Royal Sage, The Ballad of True Lord Yang, and The Golden Fluid Great Reverted Elixir Ballad, among others. Among these, The Ballad of the Jade Vase and The Great Reverted Elixir Ballad expound the methods of external alchemy, while The Three-in-One Method of the Royal Sage, The Ballad of True Lord Yang, and The Golden Fluid Great Reverted Elixir Ballad discuss the ways of Internal Alchemy. Regardless of external or internal alchemical methods, their essential gist takes the balance of Yin and Yang and the fusion of lead and mercury as the profound secret.
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