The Shangqing Xiushen Yaoshi Jing 上清修身要事经

The author of The Scripture on Essential Matters for Cultivating the Body in Shangqing is unknown. It was probably compiled between the Tang and Song dynasties.

It is a one-volume work and included in the "Zhengyi Section" of the Taoist Canon. As a compilation of essential Taoist practices, this book collects thirty kinds of Taoist methods from various early Shangqing scriptures, including: the method of restraining the Three Souls and controlling the Seven Poisons, the method of warding off bad dreams, the method of obtaining good dreams, the method of inducing sound sleep, the method of incantating against ghosts and goblins, the method of dealing with inauspicious objects, the method of using divine tallies and divine staffs, the method of rescuing during solar and lunar eclipses, the method of dispelling filth and pollution, the method of trimming hair and washing the head, the method of bathing, the method of reciting incantations before vegetarian meals, the method of massage, the method of incantating against ghosts to protect the spirit, the method of tooth-knocking, the method of judging good or bad omens from tinnitus, the method of applying talismans of the Five Directions, the method of visualizing the Three True Beings, the method of avoiding seven injuries prohibited for immortals, the method of identifying ten defects in immortal appearances, the method of wearing ritual robes in Shangqing tradition, and the method of reciting incantations when traveling in mountains and marshes.

All the above Taoist methods are the body-cultivation techniques practiced by Taoist priests of the Shangqing School during the Six Dynasties, Sui and Tang dynasties.