Zhǐzhōu xiānshēng quánzhēn zhízhǐ 紙舟先生全真直指
Direct Pointers on Quánzhēn by Master Paper-Boat
compiled (編) by 金月巖 (Jīn Yuèyán); transmitted (傳) by 黃公望 (Huáng Gōngwàng, 1269–1354)
About the work
A Yuán-era nèidān 內丹 manual of seven folios in one juàn, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0242 / CT 242 = TC 241), 洞真部 方法類, sharing a Dàozàng fascicle with [[KR5a0242|DZ 241 Bìxū zǐ qīnchuán zhízhǐ]]. The text purports to reproduce the teachings of one Zhǐzhōu xiānshēng 紙舟先生 (“Master Paper-Boat” — otherwise unidentified), as compiled by Jīn Yuèyán 金月巖 (“heir to the Quánzhēn 全真 orthodox lineage” — Sì Quánzhēn zhèngzōng 嗣全真正宗) and transmitted by Huáng Gōngwàng 黃公望, here styled “Sì Quánzhēn Dàchī 嗣全真大癡” (heir to the Quánzhēn lineage as the Dàchī-Master). The work is divided into four parts: (i) a doctrinal introduction; (ii) a theoretical outline of the Quánzhēn teachings, organised around a symmetrical presentation of xíng 形 (form, body) and shén 神 (spirit) with charts, poems, and prose developments; (iii) an explication of the Qīzhēn 七真 (“Seven Phases of Truth”), each introduced by a small drawing and a quatrain; and (iv) ten practical instructions for entering the meditation chamber (rùshì jiémù 入室節目).
Prefaces
The opening doctrinal statement (1a–1b): “The learning of the Quánzhēn directly explores the dark ancestor and singularly illumines the supreme Way of going-up — it is not to be compared with the lesser-vehicle multi-school miscellaneous arts. Since the emergence of the Five Patriarchs and the Seven Perfected, all who have attained the Way have done so by directly pointing to their own self-realisation, sealing mind with mind, and not setting up a single fragment of writing or single character — its marvel lies in this. In later ages there have been many students; if their teacher was the right person, all his sayings agreed at the joints. If the teacher was not the right person, they would receive only the dull-headed sitting and withered-mind, or swallowing the jīng and gulping the qì, or fixating attention on the kidneys, or some mixed side-doctrine — none of which is profitable, and all of which are harmful. The very handle of the Quánzhēn lies before father and mother were born: the True is already complete; in birth it does not increase, in death it does not diminish. If a man can with the seal-of-mind seal Emptiness and awaken to his own Original Truth, then his Truth is of itself complete; the Way of the Gold Elixir is supplied, and the foundation of the Great Medicine is established.”
Abstract
Vincent Goossaert, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:1187 (§3.B.9.d, Quánzhēn — Individual Practice), discusses the work’s authorship. Following Ráo Zōngyí 饒宗頤 (Huáng Gōngwàng yǔ Fùchūn shānjū tú 黃公望與富春山居圖, Hong Kong, 1976), the renowned Yuán painter Huáng Gōngwàng indeed appears to have been a disciple of Jīn Péngtóu 金蓬頭 (Jīn Zhìyáng 金志陽, 1276–1336). The identification of Jīn Yuèyán with Jīn Péngtóu, however, must remain a hypothesis since the appellation Yuèyán is absent from all extant biographical material on Jīn Péngtóu. The two other works similarly ascribed to Jīn Yuèyán / Péngtóu ([[KR5e0281|DZ 281 Bàoyī zǐ Sānfēng lǎorén dānjué]] and [[KR5e0576|DZ 576 Bàoyī hánsān bìjué]]) shed no further light on the question. The identity of Master Paper-Boat is not known. The doctrinal introduction is a eulogy to Quánzhēn, criticising both secret longevity techniques and pure metaphysics: becoming an immortal is indeed possible, but it requires serious individual effort and accumulation of merit — both standard Quánzhēn themes. The theoretical outline is largely a symmetrical presentation of form and spirit. The “Seven Phases of Truth” are each accompanied by a small drawing and a quatrain. The final ten instructions on meditation are practical: instructions 1–3 concern body control, instructions 4–10 deal with the supranormal effects of meditation. The frontmatter brackets composition between 1300 (after Jīn’s establishment as a master) and 1354 (Huáng Gōngwàng’s death).
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Vincent Goossaert, “Zhizhou xiansheng quanzhen zhizhi,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9.d, 1187. On Huáng Gōngwàng’s Daoist affiliation: Ráo Zōng-yí 饒宗頤, Huáng Gōngwàng yǔ Fù-chūn shān-jū tú 黃公望與富春山居圖 (Hong Kong: Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1976). On Quánzhēn meditation more broadly: Stephen Eskildsen, The Teachings and Practices of the Early Quanzhen Taoist Masters (Albany: SUNY Press, 2004); Louis Komjathy, Cultivating Perfection: Mysticism and Self-Transformation in Early Quanzhen Daoism (Leiden: Brill, 2007).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0243
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9.d, 1187.