Zhēn lónghǔ jiǔxiān jīng 真龍虎九仙經
Book of the Nine Immortals and of the Real Dragon and the Tiger
A Táng-period neidan and visionary-ritual text with joint commentary attributed to 葉法善 (Yè Fǎshàn, 614–720) and 羅公遠 (Luó Gōngyuǎn, fl. early 8th cent.), fourteen folios (one juǎn), preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0227 / CT 227 = TC 227), 洞真部 方法類.
About the work
A short scripture in the form of an instruction by the Tiānzhēn huángrén 天真皇人 to the Yellow Emperor, with running parallel commentary by the Master Yè (the Yègōng yuē 葉公曰 lemmas) and Master Luó (the Luógōng yuē 羅公曰 lemmas). The work begins by laying down the seven preliminaries of long-life cultivation — no scattering of the mind, no anger, no attachment, no wild thoughts, no covetous love, no licit desire, no laxness — and proceeds, in classical Six-Dynasties Shàngqīng meditative idiom, through methods of inner cultivation: invocation of the sānhún qīpò 三魂七魄, fire-and-water visualization at kǎnlí 坎離, the xuánpìn 玄牝 (“dark gateway”) meditation at the bridge of the nose, the visualization of the Dragon (qīnglóng 青龍, of the eastern liver) and Tiger (báihǔ 白虎, of the western lungs) circulating in the five viscera, the gestation of the immortal embryo (tāi 胎), and so on. The closing portion lays out the typology of nine kinds of “sword-knight” (jiànxiá 劍俠) — tiānxiá 天俠, xiānxiá 仙俠, língxiá 靈俠, fēngxiá 風俠, shuǐxiá 水俠, huǒxiá 火俠, qìxiá 氣俠, guǐxiá 鬼俠, yùjiàn xiá 遇劍俠 — together with the techniques of “forging the sword” (liànjiàn 鍊劍) and “casting the golden mallet” (zhù jīnzhuī 鑄金鎚) by which the adept becomes such a xiá. The work ends with directions for transmission: the text is to be passed “facing north, on a jiǎzǐ or jiǎwǔ day, after due fasting and ritual obeisance.”
Prefaces
No separate preface in the source. The work opens directly with the Tiānzhēn huángrén’s instruction — “Tiānzhēn huángrén said to the Yellow Emperor: ‘If you wish to cultivate your body, you must first quiet your mind.‘” — which functions as the framing introduction.
Abstract
Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 1:404–405 (§2.A.5, Alchemy), notes that according to Chóngwén zǒngmù 崇文總目 9.2a the title should properly read Tiānzhēn huángrén jiǔxiān jīng 天真皇人九仙經 (VDL 84). [[KR5c1017|DZ 1017 Dàoshū 道書]] reprints a version of the present text under the alternative title Jiǔxiān piān 九仙篇, with the commentary attributed to three authors: 葉法善, 羅公遠, and the Buddhist monk Yīxíng 一行 (682–727); this version is mentioned in Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì 郡齋讀書志 16.758–59. Jùnzhāi substitutes “Yè Fǎjìng” 葉法靜 for 葉法善; Tōngzhì 通志 Yìwén lüè 5.13b and Sòngshǐ 宋史 Yìwén zhì 205.5192 substitute Yè Jìngnéng 葉淨能 for 葉法善 and add Yīxíng. The presence of Yīxíng’s name is significant: it suggests a connection with Tantric Buddhism (Mìzōng 密宗), and the work’s vocabulary in fact contains Tantric-derived expressions (sānmèi dìnghuà zhī huǒ 三昧定化之火, fēnshēn 分身, tóutāi 投胎). The methods are based on the visualisation techniques of medieval Daoism, presented systematically here for use both in healing and in opening the xìnmén 顖門 (fontanel) so as to “exteriorise the Infant” (chū yīngér 出嬰兒). The Jùnzhāi dúshū zhì preserves a transmission story: the work was originally given to the Yellow Emperor by the Tiānzhēn huángrén; the Emperor concealed it on Mount Éméi 峨嵋山, where it was recovered during the reign of Hàn Wǔdì 漢武帝 (140–87 BCE); and during the Dàzhōng 大中 era of the Táng (847–860) the book was proscribed (VDL 84) — providing a terminus ante quem for the text. The Dàozàng version is less complete than the Dàoshū recension but contains a number of passages absent in the latter. The terminology — sānmèi dìnghuà zhī huǒ, fēnshēn, tóutāi etc. — was to exert considerable influence on later Daoist texts. Frontmatter dates 700–850 to bracket the latest possible composition before the Dàzhōng proscription.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein, “Zhen longhu jiuxian jing,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.5, 404–405. On the lónghǔ metaphor in Táng alchemy: Fabrizio Pregadio, Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2006); Isabelle Robinet, “Original Contributions of Neidan to Taoism and Chinese Thought,” in Livia Kohn ed., Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques (Ann Arbor 1989), 297–330. On the xiá / sword-knight typology: James Liu, The Chinese Knight-Errant (London: Routledge, 1967).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0228
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.5, 404–405.