The Red Pine Master's Heart-Precept 赤松子中诫经

The author is unknown; it was probably compiled during the Wei and Jin dynasties.

The Classic of Chisongzi cited in Baopuzi: Treatise on Subtle Essentials by Ge Hong is undoubtedly this very text.

The original classic consists of one scroll, and is included in the section of Precepts and Commandments under The Dongzhen Section of The Daozang.

The scripture is framed as a dialogue between Xuanyuan the Yellow Emperor and Chisongzi, discussing the principles of karmic retribution for blessings and misfortunes. It states that every mortal in the world corresponds to a certain astral star in heaven, and these stars govern human wealth, poverty, life and death, dispensing karmic rewards and retributions according to the good and evil of one’s words and deeds.

The scripture holds that the mind is the root of all good and evil: *"When a person cultivates The Dao, good and evil arise from the heart"*. When the heart aspires to do good, even if the good deed is not yet fulfilled, the benevolent gods have already responded; when evil thoughts arise in the heart, even if the evil act has not yet sprouted, the malevolent gods already know it. "Heaven rewards good deeds more swiftly than an echo follows a sound, or a shadow mirrors a form".

The lifespan of all humans is fixed at one hundred and twenty years as an innate limit. Above every person’s head dwells the God of Destiny, who oversees and inspects human transgressions. For those who commit evil deeds, the God of Destiny submits a report to the astral stars, which deduct the culprit’s lifespan according to the gravity of their sins. A one-year deduction of lifespan shall cause "the astral star above one’s head to dim its radiance"; a ten-year deduction shall render the star fractured and damaged, bringing calamities and illnesses upon the person; a twenty-year deduction shall extinguish the star’s light entirely, leaving the person gravely ill or subject to imprisonment and punishment. When one’s lifespan is exhausted, death follows; those who bear unresolved sins shall bring misfortune upon their descendants. The text elaborates in detail more than eight hundred types of transgressions that merit the deduction of one’s lifespan.

This classic exerted a profound influence on the theories of Taoist cultivation in later ages, and its doctrines were inherited and developed in texts such as the Inner Chapters of Baopuzi and the Classic of the Supreme Lord on Response and Retribution. It is one of the important early works that interprets the moral norms of yin and yang and karma in Taoism.