Daoshu: The Pivot of the Way

Daoshu (The Pivot of the Way) is a Daoist work on cultivation and health preservation compiled by Zeng Zao, a Daoist scholar of the early Southern Song, and completed around the turn of the Northern and Southern Song. The title comes from the Qiwu Lun chapter of Zhuangzi: "When this and that find no counterpart, this is called the pivot of the Way," meaning the hub of the essentials of Daoist practice. The book comprises forty-two juan and one hundred and eight chapters, drawing broadly on the cultivation teachings of various schools from the Han and Wei through the Northern Song. Each chapter is compiled separately: sometimes one school forms a single chapter, sometimes one school is divided into several chapters, and sometimes several schools are combined into one, with the compiler's commentary and others' annotations appended. Most chapters are headed by a four-line, four-character verse that states the chapter's main idea and the lineage of its transmission, helping readers trace origins and developments. Its contents cover Daoist philosophy, the Yinfu, Xisheng, and Huangting classics, the Zhen Gao, Taiji, breath ingestion, food ingestion, refining essence, breathing, visualization, sitting in forgetfulness, guarding the One, daoyin, massage, rinsing and swallowing, morning audience, bowing and invocation, the Great Return Elixir, the fire phases of the celestial cycle, Golden Jade Dragon and Tiger, lead and mercury, the Cantong Qi, the Ruyao Jing, and Lingbao, among other categories. It may be called the great compendium of Daoist cultivation and health practices before the Southern Song and is of significant value for the study of Daoist inner alchemy, qigong, and the history of health preservation. The work was later included in the Zhengtong Daozang and the Daozang Jiyao. This edition (Central Compilation & Translation Press, "Chinese Daoist Classics Series") uses the Ming Zhengtong Daozang edition as its base text, collated against the Qing Daozang Jiyao edition; the original traditional characters in vertical columns have been converted to simplified characters in horizontal lines, with modern punctuation and paragraphing where appropriate. The book runs about 340,000 characters, making it easier for modern readers to study.