The Dongxuan Lingbao Ziran Jiutian Shengshen Zhang Jing Jieyi 洞玄灵宝自然九天生神章经解义

An Explanation of the Commentary on the Chapters Scripture of Generating Spirits from the Nine Heavens, Naturally Revealed by the Mysterious Grotto Lingbao (Dongxuan Lingbao Ziran Jiutian Shengshen Zhang Jing Jieyi), annotated by Dong Sijing, a Taoist priest from Quanzhou during the Southern Song Dynasty. Completed in the twelfth year of the Chunyou reign of Emperor Lizong of the Song Dynasty (1252 CE).

In four scrolls, it is included in the Daozang (Taoist Canon) under the Dongxuan Bu (Section of the Mysterious Grotto) and Yujue Lei (Category of Jade Commentaries).

Each scroll of the text annotates the Scripture of the Chapters on Generating Spirits (Shengshen Zhang Jing) chapter by chapter.

The first two scrolls excerpt the first half of the scripture, dividing it into six sections and twenty-eight chapters, summarizing the gist of each chapter and providing detailed explanations of the text.

The latter two scrolls excerpt the latter half of the scripture, namely the nine "Chapters on Generating Spirits" (Shengshen Zhang) and the two "Odes of the True Lord of the Supreme Ultimate" (Taiji Zhenren Song), with annotations. The commentary argues that the innate Dao-qi (primordial vital energy of the Dao) and the acquired myriad things (all phenomena in the material world) share a relationship of interdependence and mutual generation, embodying the principle of "One Principle with Multiple Manifestations" (li yi fen shu).

"The way of generating spirits takes the void and true unity as its essence, and infinite transformation as its function." Taoist practitioners should cultivate both body and mind, and refine both form and spirit: "Unite one’s essence with the essence of heaven, earth, and all things; unite one’s spirit with the spirit of heaven, earth, and all things; unite one’s hun (ethereal soul) with the hun of heaven, earth, and all things; unite one’s po (corporeal soul) with the po of heaven, earth, and all things."

By doing so, one can attain the state where both form and spirit are sublimated to the utmost (xing shen ju miao), become identical with the Dao, transcend life and death, and roam freely in the Three Pure Realms (Sanqing).