The Book of Master Zihua 子华子道教典籍

Originally attributed to Cheng Ben of the Jin Dynasty, textual research shows that it is actually an apocryphal work compiled under a pseudonym by a scholar of the Song Dynasty.

The version preserved in the Daozang (Daoist Canon) has ten volumes and is included in the Taiqing (Supreme Purity) section. This book incorporates ideas from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, extensively expounding on heaven, earth, yin and yang, figures and allusions, as well as the ways of governing the world and nurturing life. Its ideological content also echoes the philosophical propositions about life preservation in the Laozi, reflecting the integration of multiple schools of thought in ancient China. Zhu Xi, in his Oudu Manji (Casual Notes from Occasional Reading), criticized this book, stating that "its language is deliberately obscure while its reasoning is actually shallow and simplistic; its style strives to be lofty and ancient while its spirit is actually frivolous".

The Book of Master Zihua

It belongs to the marginal works of the Taoist philosophers.