Miscellaneous Essentials of the Three Caverns 三洞枢机杂说

Author unknown. Judging from its content, it was compiled by a Taoist priest during the The Tang Dynasty.

Consisting of one scroll, it is included in the Method category of the The Dongshen Section within The Daozang.

Miscellaneous Essentials of the Three Caverns

This text is a miscellany of excerpts from the Taoist scriptures of the Three Caves and biographies of immortals dating from the Northern and Southern Dynasties to the Sui and Tang dynasties, structured in nine sections in total. Its content is quite diverse, focusing primarily on techniques for health preservation, healing illnesses, invoking deities and exorcising evil spirits. It includes methods of daoyin for curing diseases, clicking the teeth and swallowing saliva, massage to unblock qi and blood, observing the Gengshen day to subdue the Three Corpses, the Twisted Incantation of the Northern Emperor (a technique for invoking deities and exorcising evil), an exposition on the twenty-seven ranks of immortals and sacred beings, methods of swallowing talismans and reciting incantations to dispel misfortune and attain longevity, the method of Spirit-Communicating True Incense, the method of Agarwood Prayer Beads, as well as techniques for making sacred oil and divine candles, among others. The text also incorporates scattered stories of immortal practitioners such as Liu Jing, Tang Lan, Hui Shi, Ma Gu and Wang Fangping, resulting in a somewhat disorganized structure.