The Alchemical Compendium Daoist Classic 庚道集

The compiler is unknown. Judging from the content and linguistic style, it is believed to have been compiled during the Southern Song Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty. Consisting of nine volumes, it is included in the Methods category of the The Dongshen Section in The Daozang.

This book compiles more than twenty formulas and secret instructions for External Alchemy and gold-lead transmutation. Its chapters include Secret Formula of the Golden Elixir and Great Medicine by Wen Zhenzi, Moon Osmanthus Evergreen Elixir, Supreme Spirit Cinnabar Great Elixir, Su Dongpo’s Three Yellows Container Method, Danyang Technique, Immortal Ge’s Ninefold Spirit Cinnabar Elixir, Secret Instruction for the Ascension-Immortality Great Elixir: Ninefold Spirit Cinnabar, Ninefold Great Elixir by the True Lord of the Jade Cauldron from Xishu, etc. According to research by modern scholar Chen Guofu, most of the alchemical methods recorded in the book were created by people of the Tang and Song Dynasty, with a few supplements by those of the Yuan and Ming dynasties.

The Alchemical Compendium

Various alchemical formulas provide detailed records of the proportions and dosages of metallic and mineral medicinal materials such as lead, mercury, arsenic trioxide, and sulfur, as well as methods for subduing, nurturing, and refining them, and the preparation of utensils. In addition, there are also methods for collecting and processing other metallic, mineral, and herbal medicinal materials, which were adopted in the Ming Dynasty’s Compendium of Materia Medica. According to modern research, the proportions and dosages of medicinal materials recorded in this book are nearly reasonable, roughly similar to modern methods for producing certain traditional Chinese medicinal elixirs. It is an important classic for the study of ancient Chinese chemistry and pharmacology.