The Daoist Canonical Pivot 道枢-道教典籍

Compiled by Zeng Zao, a Taoist priest of the Song Dynasty.

It was roughly compiled during the Shaoxing reign period in the early Southern Song Dynasty. According to Zhi Zhai Shu Lu Jie Ti (Annotated Bibliography of Zhizhai) by Chen Zhensun, the original version was divided into 10 volumes with 122 chapters. The existing version in The Daozang consists of 42 volumes with 108 chapters, included in the Tai Xuan Section. This book compiles and extracts the essence of Taoist cultivation works throughout successive dynasties, covering Taoist texts from the Han and Wei dynasties down to the Northern Song Dynasty. Its Taoist techniques are mainly the internal elixir practices of the Tang and Song dynasties, supplemented by visualization, sitting forgetting, upholding the One, guided movement, massage, bathing, swallowing saliva, worshipping immortals, prayer, emptying the mind, Qi absorption, embryonic breathing, refining essence, taking medicinal substances, external elixir refining, eliminating the Three Corpses, summoning soul and spirit, etc. It contains all Taoist techniques, whether major or minor, and incorporates the doctrines of various schools without bias. Under the title of each chapter, a four-character rhymed verse is first used to summarize and clarify the core purport. Annotations or comments by Zeng Zao are interspersed in the main text, which extensively cites various sources and demonstrates extraordinary insights rooted in Taoism.

The Daoist Canonical Pivot

It is an encyclopedia for studying Taoist cultivation and health preservation techniques before the Southern Song Dynasty.