The Jiu Ku Jing Zhu Jie 太上洞玄灵宝天尊说救苦妙经注解

Originally attributed to Dongyangzi as its commentator, Dongyangzi was presumably a Taoist priest active during the Song and Yuan dynasties.

This work, consisting of one scroll, is included in the Jade Instructions Category of the Cave Mysterious Section of the Daoist Canon.

The original Wonderful Scripture of Saving the Suffering was a Taoist scripture dating from before the Northern Song Dynasty, whose core content eulogizes the divine power of the Lord of Saving the Suffering and prays for the Venerable to rescue all living beings from the torments of hell and elevate them to heaven. In contrast, Dongyangzi’s annotations to the scripture focus primarily on expounding inner alchemy cultivation.

The annotations regard the spirit, qi, and essence within the human body as the Three Treasures Lords, and identify the concentration of these three treasures as the essential secret of Taoist practice. It proclaims: “The perfected person turns inward to observe and listens in reverse to still their spirit, draws in the harmonious cosmic qi through breath, and reverses the circulation of the Flow Pearl to gather their essence. When the Three Treasures accumulate within the Spirit Chamber (dantian) and are all transformed into spirit, they are thus called the Three Treasures Lords.”