Yùqīng tāiyuán nèiyǎng zhēnjīng 玉清胎元內養真經
True Scripture of the Yùqīng Heaven on Internally Nourishing the Original Embryonic State
Sòng-era inner-alchemy cultivation scripture, three folios, transmitted by Yuántái zhēnjūn 元胎真君, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0063 / CT 63), 洞真部 本文類
About the work
A three-folio scripture transmitted (as its opening states) by Yuántái zhēnjūn 元胎真君 — a name also mentioned in [[KR5a0042|DZ 42 Yùqīng yuánshǐ xuánhuáng jiǔguāng zhēnjīng]] 2b. The scripture preserves the instruction of Yuánshǐ shàngdì 元始上帝 to propagate methods for restoring one’s original vital forces, which consist in enriching one’s immanent qì with the cosmic “true spirit” (zhēnshén 真神). In terms of individual practice, this means concentration of the mind (dìngxīn 定心), shutting out external distractions (alcohol, sex), and restriction of inner ambitions and thoughts. By observing first the small and then the great precepts (xiǎojiè 小戒 / dàjiè 大戒), the adept finally attains the state of non-acting (wúwéi 無為). By multiplying their persons (fēnshēn 分身), Tàishàng Lǎojūn 太上老君 and Zǐguāng tiānmǔ 紫光天母 ensure the diffusion of the scripture and the salvation of innumerable beings, who in their turn promise in a hymn to continue the work of salvation (compare [[KR5a0064|DZ 64 Yùqīng wúshàng nèijīng zhēnjīng]]).
Prefaces
No prefaces in the source.
Abstract
Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:1233 (§3.B.14, “Other Popular Cults”), treats the scripture as belonging to the mid-to-late Sòng Daoist cultivation literature associated with the Zǐguāng tiānmǔ 紫光天母 cult (the goddess of the Northern Dipper from whom, in the cognate scriptures, the Nine Luminaries proceed). The frontmatter brackets composition notBefore 1100 / notAfter 1279, with dynasty 宋. No author is attributed.
Translations and research
No translation. Standard scholarly entry: Ursula-Angelika Cedzich, “Yuqing taiyuan neiyang zhenjing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.14, 1233.
Other points of interest
The scripture is one of the paired “Yùqīng” heaven revelation-cluster scriptures (DZ 42, DZ 63, DZ 64, DZ 644), all associated with Zǐguāng tiānmǔ / Zǐguāng tiānhòu 紫光天后 transmission and the Yuántái / neìdān cultivation programme. These texts together constitute an important witness to the Sòng Daoist elevation of the Zǐguāng goddess as a revealing deity for internal-alchemy scriptural revelation.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0063
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.14, 1233 — DZ 63 entry (U.-A. Cedzich).