Shangqing True Elixir Secrets 上清经真丹秘诀

The author is unknown.

It seems to have been written during the Tang Dynasty.

It consists of one volume and is included in the Methods category of the Dongshen Section of The Daozang.

The book expounds the formulas and instructions for refining elixirs. It states that the True Elixir is refined from Realgar and Orpiment, and has ten names including Ice-Melting Pills, Internal Moxibustion Pills and Snow-Moistening Pills. Refining, taking and ingesting it in accordance with the prescribed methods can cure seven types of ailments, namely qi disorders, cold disorders, accumulation disorders, binding disorders, abdominal mass disorders, hernia disorders and blood disorders. It is also claimed that the Two-Yellow Elixir can be used to transmute mercury or sulfur into gold, and "long-term ingestion will restore youth and enable one to become an immortal permanently". The book details the operational methods and procedures of elixir refining, whose theoretical system is deeply rooted in the practice system of Taoism and whose ingredient selection conforms to the compatibility rules of the five elements theory in traditional Chinese philosophy.