Bàoyī hánsān mìjué 抱一函三祕訣
Secret Formulae for Embracing the One and Encompassing the Three edited by 金月巖 (嗣全真正宗, 編); transmitted by 黃公望 (嗣全真大癡, 傳)
About the work
A single-juǎn Yuán-period Quánzhēn 全真 inner-alchemical (nèidān 內dān) manual integrating the Bàoyī 抱一 (embracing the One) tradition with the Hánsān 函三 (encompassing the Three) doctrine of the trifold integration of jīngqìshén 精氣神. The work is presented as edited by Jīn Yuèyán (金月巖, = Jīn Péngtóu 金蓬頭, 1276–1336), of the Quánzhēn zhèngzōng 正宗 lineage, and transmitted by his disciple Huáng Gōngwàng (黃公望, 1269–1354) under the latter’s Daoist hào Dàchī 大癡.
Abstract
The text expounds the Bàoyī hánsān doctrine by drawing on the Yìjīng 易經 cosmogonic system: the qián 乾 hexagram at the head of the lunar months (“from qián to zhèn a left-rotation; from kūn to xùn a right-rotation”) models the pre-cosmic distribution of qì. The bāguà 八卦 system is mapped onto the body: qiánkūn establishes the upper-and-lower axis, the great-furnace of the body; kǎnlí 坎離 holds the middle and serves as the transformative engine. The qián (= one yáng) is read as the xìng 性 (innate nature) — the yángjīng 陽晶 (yáng-essence) — also called tiānhún 天魂 (celestial soul) and likened to silver ore; together with the further qì and shén it constitutes the “one-qì three-roots” (yīqì sānběn 一炁三本), the yuánshén 元神. After conception, the yuánshén is hidden in the kūngōng 坤宫 (terrestrial palace, i.e. the abdomen) — “hidden at hài, emerging at rén” in the duodenary cycle.
The text proceeds through the sequence of inner-alchemical operations — gathering the yuánshén and the yuánjīng, refining the jīndān, and achieving the bàoyī state — with the technical apparatus of the Quánzhēn school. Schipper & Verellen (Taoist Canon 2: 1187, Vincent Goossaert) treat the work as one of three Yuán-period inner-alchemical compilations bound to the Jīn Péngtóu / Huáng Gōngwàng lineage; together with DZ 242 and DZ 281, it forms the Daozang’s chief evidence for that lineage.
Translations and research
- Schipper, Kristofer, and Franciscus Verellen, eds. The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. Vol. 2: 1187 (DZ 576, Vincent Goossaert).
- 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: 1976 — treats Huáng’s Daoist affiliations including this text.
Links
- Daozang — DZ 576
- Huáng Gōngwàng — Wikipedia