A Chinese classic of the "inner alchemy" of Taoism, this book was first translated by Richard Wilhelm (also translator, in the 1920s, of the Chinese philosophical classic the I Ching). Wilhelm, was German, and his translations from Chinese to German were later translated to English by Cary F. Baynes. According to Wilhelm, LuDongbin was the main originator of the material presented in the book suggests that the material is from Quanzhen School founder Wang Chongyang, a student of Lu Dongbin). More recently, (in 2013) a new translation was commissioned by the Ancient Wisdom Publications to create a Chinese/English text. This edition only shows the English text because of font issues.