Shàngshèng xiūzhēn sānyào 上乘修真三要
Three Essentials for the Cultivation of the True according to the Superior Vehicle
by 高道寬 (撰, hào Yuánmíng lǎorén 圓明老人, 1195–1277)
About the work
A two-juan nèidān 內丹 manual by the Quánzhēn 全真 hermit Gāo Dàokuān 高道寬 (hào Yuánmíng lǎorén 圓明老人, 1195–1277) of Mount Zhōngnán 終南山 in Shǎnxī, a disciple of the early Quánzhēn patriarchs Mǎ Dānyáng 馬丹陽 and Lǐ Chōngxū 李冲虛. Preserved in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 267 / CT 267 = TC 2:1176–1178), 洞真部 方法類. The first juan contains an illustrated didactic poem entitled Sānfǎ sòng 三法頌 (“Song of the Three Methods”), describing the spiritual discipline of the heart-mind (xīn 心) and of fundamental human nature (xìng 性) by means of the allegory of training a horse — the only fully-illustrated xìnmǎ 馬 (“horse-of-the-mind”) programme preserved in the Daozang, a Daoist adaptation of the Chán shíniú tú 十牛圖 (“Ten Ox-Herding Pictures”) of the Chán master Pǔmíng 普明 (late eleventh century). The song comprises twelve verses in irregular dàoqíng 道情 metre alternating seven- and three-character lines, with accompanying illustrations and a small-print commentary in five-character verse. The ten illustrations of the horse-training are arranged in succession from the practitioner’s first preparation to “eradicate the roots of impermanence” (1.1b) through to the final liberation of the trained mind. The second juan is devoted to the life-force (mìng 命): twelve sections, each with its own title and illustrated by a diagram, with one or two poems and a rhymed jué 訣 (“oral formula”). Following the Zhōuyì cāntóng qì 周易參同契 tradition, the author lays out the essential phases of nèidān: choice of the cauldron and the furnace, fire-phasing (huǒhòu 火候), transmutation of the cinnabar, deliverance of the body, return to the true origin, and wúwéi 無為. The closing Chúnjué xīnxìng gē 純覺心性歌 (2.15a–16a) figures the xìng as a white buffalo and the xīn as the shepherd — a metaphor that connects the present work to the closely related thirteenth-century Quánzhēn synthesis represented by Wáng Qìngshēng’s [[KR5d0275|Sānjí zhīmìng quántǐ]].
Prefaces
No preface in the source.
Abstract
Catherine Despeux, in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004) 2:1176–1178 (§3.B.9, the Quánzhēn Order), gives the standard scholarly entry. Despeux highlights the work’s unique status as the sole fully-illustrated xìnmǎ 馬 series in the Daozang, modelled on the Chán shíniú programme but adapted to Quánzhēn doctrinal categories: the “Three Essentials” of the title — corresponding to the three zhāng 章 of the title-page — are the disciplines of xīn 心 (heart), xìng 性 (inborn nature), and mìng 命 (life-force). The SòngYuán xìngmìng shuāngxiū 性命雙修 (“dual cultivation of inborn nature and life-force”) synthesis — for which the Quánzhēn school is justly celebrated — finds in Gāo Dàokuān’s manual one of its most accessible illustrations. Gāo’s affiliation with the founding generation through Mǎ Dānyáng establishes the lineage credentials. CBDB (id 106303) confirms his lifedates as 1195–1277. Frontmatter brackets composition between Gāo’s mature period (post-1230) and his death.
Translations and research
The horse-training allegory is studied at length in Catherine Despeux, Le chemin de l’éveil illustré par le dressage du buffle dans le bouddhisme Chan, le dressage du cheval dans le taoïsme, le dressage de l’éléphant dans le bouddhisme tibétain (Paris: L’Asiathèque, 1981) — the standard study of the xìnmǎ programme in its Chán-Daoist comparative context. Despeux’s Taoïsme et corps humain: le Xiuzhen tu (Paris: Trédaniel, 1994) contextualises the present work within the broader Sòng-Yuán xiūzhēn iconographic tradition. Standard scholarly entry: Catherine Despeux, “Shangsheng xiuzhen sanyao,” in Schipper & Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9, 1176–1178.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0279
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 2 §3.B.9, 1176–1178.