Treatise on the Great Elixir 大还丹金虎白龙论

Originally attributed to the Author of Yang Restoration.

According to the postscript written by Du Xidun in the second year of Guangqi (876 CE) recorded at the end of the book: Du Xidun, titled the Master of Yongyang, lived in seclusion on the outskirts of Wen to escape misfortune, and wrote down the "Alchemical Formulas of the Former Master" to present to the Duke of Nanyang.

Treatise on the Great Elixir

From this, it can be known that the book was compiled in the late Tang Dynasty.

It is recorded in The New Book of Tang·Treatise on Arts and Literature.

The existing version in the Daoist Canon (The Daozang) consists of one scroll, included in the Alchemical Arts Category of the Dongshen Section.

The entire book is divided into chapters including a Preface, Discern the Yellow Sprout, Discern Lead and Mercury, Seeking the Master, Exhortation from the Master, Teachings Bestowed by the Master, and Instructions from the Master, expounding the way of Neidan (Internal Alchemy) cultivation. It generally regards the communion of the dragon and tiger and the integration of spirit and Qi as the method for refining the elixir and preserving the physical form. It proclaims: "To refine the cinnabar and smelt the elixir, one must simmer the yin and yang of the dragon and tiger; to sustain life and preserve the form, one must nourish the soul and spirit of the spirit and Qi."

It denounces external alchemists for smelting the five metals and eight minerals, as well as the three yellows and five alums, falsely referring to lead and mercury as the dragon and tiger and arbitrarily pairing yin and yang, water and fire—dismissing such practices as "wasting years and toiling the mind in vain". By contrast, internal alchemists "cultivate and refine spirit and Qi, return to the origin and revert to the primordial state, still their worries and purify their true nature, cast aside thoughts and attain tranquil unity", harmonizing metal and wood, the dragon and tiger, yin and yang, the Kan and Li trigrams—this is deemed the marvelous principle of the immortal recipe.