Sūn Bùèr yuán jūn fǎ yǔ 孫不二元君法語
Dharma-Sayings of the Primal Lady Sūn Bùèr
attributed to 孫不二 (Sūn Bùèr, 1119–1182), pseudonymous Qīngjìng sǎnrén
A short collection of inner-alchemical poems attributed to the only female member of the Seven Perfected of Quánzhēn, Sūn Bùèr — most importantly the Kūn dào gōng fū cì dì 坤道功夫次第 (“Sequence of the Kūn-Way’s Cultivation”), 14 7-character regulated verses giving the standard fourteen-step curriculum of female inner-alchemy: (1) shōu xīn 收心 (gathering the heart), (2) yǎng qì 養氣 (nourishing the qì), (3) xíng gōng 行功 (enacting the work), (4) zhǎn lóng 斬龍 (slaughtering the dragon — = ceasing menstruation, the zhǎn chì lóng 斬赤龍 of female alchemy), (5) yǎng dān 養丹 (nourishing the elixir), (6) tāi xī 胎息 (foetal breathing), (7) fú huǒ 符火 (the fú-fire-phasing), (8) jiē yào 接藥 (receiving the medicine), (9) liàn shén 鍊神 (refining the spirit), (10) fú shí 服食 (eating-and-clothing — diet practice), (11) bì gǔ 辟穀 (avoiding grains), (12) miàn bì 面壁 (facing the wall), (13) chū shén 出神 (issuing the spirit), (14) fēi shēng 飛昇 (flying up). The DZJY recension preserves the canonical 14 verses; pagination begins at sheet 108a, indicating continuous foliation with preceding WǔLiǔ materials.
Prefaces
No external preface; the text begins directly with the 14 verses, each headed by its 2-character chapter-title.
Abstract
The foundational text of late-imperial nǚdān (female inner-alchemy). The verses are pseudepigraphical — they are most plausibly composed in the late Míng / early Qīng (the language and the systematic 14-stage nèidān curriculum reflect the WǔLiǔpài standardisation), but the attribution to Sūn Bùèr — the sole female founder-figure of Quánzhēn — gave the work the canonical authority necessary for it to become the cardinal kūndào manual of Qīng-Republican Daoist nǚdān. The dating bracket records this layered chronology.
For the nǚdān tradition see Despeux’s Immortelles de la Chine ancienne and the broader corpus collected at KR5i0109 Nǚ dān hé biān.
Translations and research
- Cleary, Thomas, trans. Immortal Sisters: Secrets of Taoist Women. Shambhala 1989.
- Despeux, Catherine. Immortelles de la Chine ancienne: Taoïsme et alchimie féminine. Pardès 1990.
- Despeux, Catherine, and Livia Kohn. Women in Daoism. Three Pines Press 2003.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0063
- Attributed author: 孫不二.