Stone Casket Record of Xu Xun 许真君石函记

The author is unknown.

Judging from the content, it was presumably compiled by Taoist priests of Xishan in Hongzhou during the Song Dynasty under the pseudonym of Xu Xun, and successively transmitted by Xie Shouyuan, Zhu Mingshu, Zheng Daoquan, and others. Originally consisting of two scrolls, it is included in the Miscellaneous Arts Category of the The Dongshen Section within the Taoist Canon (The Daozang).

Stone Casket Record of Xu Xun

A preface precedes the book, claiming that in the second year of the Ningkang reign of the Eastern Jin Dynasty (374 CE), Xu Zhenjun (True Lord Xu) "ascended to immortality with his entire residence" at Xishan in Hongzhou, leaving behind a stone casket. Later generations discovered nine secret texts in the stone casket, which are the supreme Dao of refining the Golden Elixir, named Records of the Stone Casket.

The nine chapters are titled: Treatise on the Primal Crystal of the Sun, Treatise on the Male and Female of the Sun and Moon, Treatise on Medicinal Elixirs, Treatise on the Right and Wrong of Medicinal Substances, Song of Cinnabar Verifying the Dao, Chapter of the Sacred Stone Pointing to the Mysterious, Treatise on the Mysterious Brightness of the Spirit Chamber, Treatise on the Void and Nothingness of the Golden Cauldron, and Treatise on the Correct Virtue of the Mingtang (Hall of Light).

Each chapter respectively elaborates on the formation and transformation of cinnabar, the origin and nature of medicinal substances, the "parents, ruler, and minister" relationships of metals and stones, the arrangement of altars, furnaces, and cauldrons, the generation and restraint of Yin and Yang and Five Elements, and the movement of fire timing talismans.

Generally, it absorbs the theories of Yin-Yang, Five Elements, and trigram changes from the Cantong Qi (Unity of the Three), as well as the principle of mutual "seizing" among heaven, earth, and humans from the Yinfu Jing (Scripture of Hidden Contracts), to discuss the Dao of Internal Alchemy (Neidan) cultivation. It argues that the innate primal Qi (Vital Energy) can generate and transform heaven, earth, humans, and all things, serving as the foundation of the Return Elixir and the mother of the great medicine. The Golden Elixir "is not composed of the five metals, eight stones, cinnabar, or mercury in the mortal world."

Those who refine the elixir must emulate the principles of cosmic spiritual movement and Qi transformation, uniting Yin and Yang energies and harmonizing the Four Symbols to form the elixir. The writing style of the entire book is quite elegant.