Three Discourses on Esoteric Tenets 三论玄旨

The original text does not specify the author’s name.

According to the preface at the beginning of the volume and the content of the book, the author seems to be a hermit living in Yanquan during the late Tang Dynasty and Five Dynasties period.

Originally one volume, it is included in the Taixuan Section of the Daozang.

The book is divided into three chapters: Ancestry of the Dao, Falsity, and True Origin, expounding the purport of cultivating the mind to align with the Dao, and perceiving one’s nature to attain true realization. It is primarily based on the Chongxuan (Double Mystery) philosophy of Taoism in the Tang Dynasty. It states that the great Dao is naturally non-action and eternally subsists in clarity; the Dao, mind, and nature are of the essence that "the mind is the Dao itself, and the mind and the Dao are united as one nature". Therefore, the key to cultivating the Dao lies in cultivating the mind to perceive one’s nature, maintaining purity and non-action, dispelling stagnation and breaking attachments—"when free from the hindrance of attachments, the true and eternal nature manifests itself".

The graded methods of cultivating the mind to align with the Dao are called the "Three Stabilizations and Four Stages". The first is Stable Calmness: gathering the mind to attain unity. The second is Stable Annihilation: quieting the mind to forget unity. The third is Stable Peace: enlightening the mind to realize truth—these are the Three Stabilizations. Cultivation progresses from the coarse to the subtle, from the subtle to the minute, from the minute to the profound, and from the profound to union with the Dao—these are the Four Stages. If one can clarify the mind for quiet contemplation and comprehend emptiness and delusion, then true knowledge and true nature will manifest spontaneously, free from being confined by external conditions: "attain non-action through action, and attain non-birth through birth". Non-action and naturalness are the wonderful functions of the great Dao.

The book also discusses the relationship between the methods of cultivating Qi and refining the body, and cultivating the spirit and refining the mind. It states that the spirit can mobilize Qi, and Qi can nourish the spirit; those who cultivate the Dao should practice the dual cultivation of spirit and Qi. "Cultivating the spirit without cultivating Qi is the method of nirvana. Cultivating Qi without cultivating the spirit is the method of prolonging life. Cultivating both comprehensively is the method of learning to become an immortal. Cultivating the spirit takes refining the mind as the priority; absorbing Qi takes guidance as the foundation: guidance harmonizes with great peace, and refining the mind connects with all profundities"—then the true Dao is attained.