Treatise on Reverting to Perfection 还真集

Written by Wang Daoyuan, a Quanzhen Taoist priest of the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

It consists of three volumes and is included in the Taixuan Section of The Daozang.

Treatise on Reverting to Perfection

A preface by Zhang Yuchu in the Renshen year of the Hongwu reign (1392) praises the book as “truly faithful to the purpose of the Reverted Elixir”. The poems and essays by Wang Daoyuan collected in this book all discuss Internal Alchemy, among which Wonderful Purpose of the Golden Elixir in the upper volume is the most systematic.

His alchemical method emphasizes the dual cultivation of life and nature. It generally takes the Three Pre-Heaming Treasures (Original Essence, Original Qi, Original Spirit) to refine and merge the Three Post-Heaven Treasures (Generative Essence, Respiratory Qi, Thinking Spirit), so that essence, qi and spirit become complete. He states: “The method of cultivating immortality is nothing else but perfecting these three.”

The initial practice lies in inner observation and nature-nurturing when the mind is still and free of desires: “Turning the light inward, abiding continuously like a hen brooding eggs, like a dragon nurturing a pearl. Naturally the spirit governs the qi, and the qi nourishes the spirit; both merge in the mind, becoming one with the Great Void.”

One should also enter seclusion at the time of the birth of Gui in the winter solstice to practice, extract Kan to fill Li, refine essence into qi, refine qi into spirit, so that “the single qi circulates throughout, the three primordials return to the body, refined by true fire, forming the golden embryo of empty qi — this is called the talisman-fire Reverted Elixir. Practicing for a long time, it gradually condenses and solidifies, becoming one with the Great Void and uniting with the Dao in truth.”

The middle and lower volumes contain five discourses and over two hundred poems, odes and instructions, most of which also expound internal alchemy.

The secret key of the Reverted Elixir is the perfect union of essence‑qi‑spirit and body‑mind‑intention, and the blending of life and nature. It holds that the way of the Reverted Elixir is nothing but the merging of spirit and qi to return to the original wholeness of life and nature.

Restraining anger and suppressing desires is the way of extracting Kan to fill Li and the mutual aid of water and fire in alchemy. It also states that the sage’s mind unites with the Dao; even dreams are not delusions. The ordinary mind is attached to things, the spirit stained by desires, lost in illusory dreams.

Human nature is “originally perfect” and inherently good. Distinctions of good and evil arise from different endowments of material force. If one awakens to original nature, “all dharmas shine forth clearly”.

The book also advocates the unity of the Three Teachings, holding that the way of the Three Teachings shares the same origin, “in reality not departing from the wonder of the one mind”. Some poems vividly depict the life and style of The Quanzhen Dao.

Wang Daoyuan’s alchemical method is similar to that of Daochun Li, both representing the Quanzhen alchemical tradition of the merged Northern and Southern lineages.