The Essence of the Taoist Canon (Daozang Jinghua Lu) is a series of Taoist classics compiled by Ding Fubao, also known by his Taoist name Shouyi Zi, during the Republic of China era.
It is divided into 10 collections, with 10 Taoist texts in each collection, totaling 100 Taoist works and 148 volumes. Under the table of contents for each text, there is a summary that briefly describes the text’s origin, outlines its content, and occasionally comments on its functions and merits.
The compilation centers on three core works: Yunji Qijian (Seven Slips from the Cloud Satchel), Xiuzhen Shishu (Ten Books on Cultivating Perfection), and Daoguan Zhenyuan (The True Source of the Dao’s Continuity). The selection criteria were rather strict: all philosophical texts (including works by Taoist philosophers such as Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Liezi) originally included in the Daozang (Taoist Canon) were excluded entirely; ritual texts for Taoist ceremonies (zhaijiao kefan) and works on external alchemy (waidan)—including those about refining gold and silver—were also omitted.
Most of the selected texts focus on health preservation, vital energy cultivation, and internal alchemy (neidan), supplemented by biographies of immortals, catalogs of Taoist texts, and scriptures closely related to spiritual and mental cultivation (e.g., Taishang Laojun Dingguan Jing [The Supreme Lord Lao’s Scripture on Stabilizing Contemplation] and Qingjing Jing [The Scripture of Purity and Tranquility]). For large-scale works, only their essence was selected; none of the 100 included texts exceed 10 volumes. The sources of the texts primarily draw from the Daozang, while also incorporating Taoist works published during the Ming and Qing dynasties—mostly focusing on health preservation and internal alchemy. Additionally, it includes treatises by scholars from the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, such as Liu Shipei’s Du Daozang Ji (Notes on Reading the Taoist Canon).
With a substantial scale encompassing 100 Taoist texts, this book was quite popular after its publication and achieved relatively wide circulation.
It has two main editions: a typeset version printed by the Ding family in Wuxi during the Republic of China era, and a facsimile reprint published by Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House in 1989 based on that earlier typeset edition.
✨ Recommended Taoist Talismans
Discover powerful talismans for your spiritual journey
