Wēi yán zhāi yào 微言摘要
Selected Subtle Sayings
planchette-attributed selections of subtle sayings of 呂洞賓; self-preface signed Yán dào rén 嵓道人 (i.e., Lǚzǔ — Lǚ Yán 呂巖)
A short collection of selected aphorisms — probably a condensed digest drawn from the parallel Yǔ lù dà guān (KR5i0053) and Wén jí (KR5i0049) — pagination begins at sheet 73a (continuous foliation with the preceding yǔlù / zá zhuàn materials). The zhāiyào are short verse-and-prose aphorisms on inner-alchemical practice, often in 7- or 5-character couplets that fit the genre of the late-Qīng Daoist géyán (admonitions). The opening aphorism is in pentasyllabic verse: “chū xiū rú wàng shān, línlín nán biē … ‘starting cultivation is like gazing at a mountain — at first sight blurry and hard to identify; the closer the more clear, the more in motion the more arrived; only when reaching the foot does one recognise the road of mountain-walking…*‘“
Prefaces
Self-preface (Yán dào rén = Lǚzǔ). “*The great Way is brilliantly displayed; ancient and modern do not change. Only men’s tastes turn-and-turn-back differently, so that the Way being unclear and unpractised is because men do not know and do not love. — I, after passing through kalpas of attestation, took position among the perfected ranks; meeting conditions I have been delivered, and now substitute for Heaven in proclaiming-and-transforming, for the realm and for the people, vowing my heart for charity-and-auspiciousness; meeting the mechanism I urge to good — and the mystery-breeze flows broadly. The world has its lineage and ancestor, so to exhaust principle and complete nature is rooted in correct heart and self-cultivation, benefiting things and saving men; never departing from dwelling in benevolence and going through righteousness. The sage’s classics and worthy’s traditions all have subtle sayings — a single piece of grandmotherly heart, original and connected. May only the world’s students at every time, in every place, set up virtue and set up merit, listen-and-take the saying-within-the-meaning, silently match the meaning-within-the-saying — savour-after-savour, refining-and-refining-again — and then the Way is verified at the mystery-subtle, and not only body-and-heart will benefit. — Yán dào rén respectfully prefaced.”
Abstract
A short Lǚzǔ aphorism-anthology preserved at the end of the Lǚzǔ quán shū in the DZJY recension. Composition c. 1700–1750; the text functions as a portable digest of the longer yǔlù and prose corpus.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0054
- Author: 呂洞賓 (託名).