Zhōnghé jí 中和集
Anthology of Central Harmony
by 李道純 (撰, hào Qīngān 清庵, also Yíngchánzǐ 瑩蟾子, d. 1306); edited by 蔡志頤 (編); preface by 杜道堅 (序) dated 1306
About the work
A six-juan Quánzhēn 全真 nèidān 內丹 anthology, preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 0249 / CT 249 = TC 248), 洞真部 方法類. The work collects the lectures, dialogues, regular and irregular poetry, cí 詞 lyrics, and short prose treatises of Lǐ Dàochún 李道純 (d. 1306), the major nèidān theorist of the Quánzhēn “Central Branch” (Zhōngpài 中派), so named for the doctrinal synthesis he sought between the Northern (Běizōng 北宗) and Southern (Nánzōng 南宗) lineages. The title is taken from Lǐ’s meditation room in Nánjīng 南京, the Hermitage of Central Harmony (Zhōnghé jīngshè 中和精舍; see 4.11a). Juan 1 opens with diagrams and explanations of the Tàijí 太極 and the Tàijí tú 太極圖 of Zhōu Dūnyí 周敦頤 (1017–1073), then progresses through verse and prose on spiritual exercise, alchemy, and master–disciple dialogue. Juan 2 is devoted entirely to nèidān, with numerous illustrations and diagrams of ingredients, furnace, fire-phases, and the inner and outer remedies; it lists nine heretical schools of alchemy and locates Lǐ’s own teaching at the Supreme Vehicle (2.12b–17a). The remaining juan continue with poetry, songs, and yulu, including a definition of the Quánzhēn name (3.28b) and a series of twenty-five poems on alchemical themes — Jīndān bìyào 金丹祕要 — at 6.14b–18b, closing with an annotated hymn to the Three Teachings (Sānjiào 三教).
Prefaces
Preface by Dù Dàojiān 杜道堅 (Nán gǔ zǐ 南谷子, 1237–1318), dated the autumn of the bǐngwǔ 丙午 year of Dàdé 大德 (1306), written at the Xuányuán Zhēnguān 玄元真館 in Qiántáng 錢塘 (Hángzhōu): “Wéiyáng’s Sǔn’ān Master Cài Zhìyí 蔡志頤, zì Yíngchánzǐ 瑩蟾子, is a disciple of [Lǐ] Qīngān’s gate. Having seen through worldly dust and devoted himself to the immortal Way, he gathered the master’s remaining traces and surplus fragrance, edited them in sequence into a book, and titled it Zhōnghé jí — taking the name from his master’s meditation room. In the autumn of Dàdé bǐngwǔ he came to me to seek my approbation, wishing to commit the book to printing and so to enlighten future generations. I had not yet opened the volume when I already knew that all delusions had been swept away, the single Truth manifest. As Heaven gives it forth as Mandate (mìng 命) and humans receive it as Nature (xìng 性); reaching the prior-Heaven Supreme Ultimate, the spontaneous Golden Elixir, light illuminating the vast emptiness — without need of any further refinement, all has been disclosed without remainder. By this one may exhaust spirit and know change, deepen the root and rest in the ultimate; one may shed the embryo and undergo divine transformation, returning to Wújí 無極. The Way’s ‘thing-mixed-formed’ (dào zhī yǒu wù hùn chéng 道之有物混成), the Confucian ‘central harmony nourishing things’ (Rú zhī zhōnghé yùwù 儒之中和育物), and the Buddhist ‘pointing at mind, seeing nature’ (Shì zhī zhǐxīn jiànxìng 釋之指心見性) — these all share the same workmanship in different melodies, and all come out of the Supreme Ultimate. Therefore the Old Sage [Lǎozǐ] is ever skilful in saving men, the Buddha never slights any of you, and the Duke of Zhōu surely does not deceive me. Readers of this collection: let them not give rise to doubt. — Dāngtú 當塗 Nángǔ Dù Dàojiān, written at the Xuányuán Zhēnguān at Qiántáng.”
Abstract
Catherine Despeux, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:1175 (§3.B.9, The Quánzhēn Order), notes that according to Dù Dàojiān’s 1306 preface Cài Zhìyí 蔡志頤 of Wéiyáng 維揚 (Yángzhōu), a disciple of Lǐ Dàochún, collected the master’s fragmented manuscripts and edited them into the present collection, named after Lǐ’s meditation room (the Hermitage of Central Harmony, Zhōnghé jīngshè) in Nánjīng. Dù Dàojiān had the work printed in 1306 at the Xuányuán Zhēnguān at Qiántáng (Hángzhōu). An earlier Yuán-period edition titled Qīngān xiānshēng zhōnghé [jí] in six juan, divided into a qiánjí 前集 and a hòují 後集, is preserved in the Seikadō Bunko (Bisònglóu cángshū zhì 66.29a; Seikadō Bunko Kanseki bunrui mokuroku, 612). Lǐ Dàochún was active from at least 1288 (the date of his preface to [[KR5c0085|DZ 699 Dàodé huìyuán]]); the frontmatter therefore brackets composition 1288–1306, with the editing and printing both of 1306.
Translations and research
No full translation. Standard scholarly entry: Catherine Despeux, “Zhonghe ji,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9, 1175. Pierre Marsone, “Li Daochun et la synthèse des courants de l’alchimie intérieure,” in Matériaux pour l’étude de la religion chinoise (2000); Isabelle Robinet, Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste (Cerf, 1995). On the Quánzhēn “Central Branch”: see Goossaert, La création du taoïsme moderne (EHESS dissertation, 1997).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0250
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9, 1175.