Xīn chuán shù zhèng lù 心傳述證錄
Record of Narration-and-Verification of the Heart-Transmission
base scripture: planchette-attributed to 無極道祖 (Wújí dàozǔ); supplementary verification by 沂陽劉子 (Liúzǐ of Yíyáng); anthologised and re-engraved by 雎陽梅芳老人 (Méifāng lǎorén of Suīyáng), aged 75, dated 嘉慶八年癸亥上元日 = 5 February 1803
A short Three-Teachings synthesis manual, composed of a base scripture-of-doctrine attributed to Wújí dàozǔ (planchette persona representing the supreme Daoist deity in the xīn xué register) — taking Heart-Transmission (心傳) as the operative term that unifies Confucian yīguàn / míngdé / lǜxìng, Buddhist yīzhì / niánfó, and Daoist jīndān — with a supplementary verifying tradition by Liúzǐ of Yíyáng (= 沂陽劉子, an unidentified Daoist scholar). The base-and-supplement is anthologised and re-printed in 1803 by Méifāng lǎorén of Suīyáng (= the modern Shāngqiū prefecture in Hénán).
Prefaces
Preface (Méifāng lǎorén of Suīyáng, dated 嘉慶八年癸亥上元日 = 5 February 1803, age 75). “*The Way is originally one source — only this one is, and the Three Teachings’ merit-cultivation has no different heart, that is, no different transmission — all are the study of nature-and-mandate. Since Fúxī drew the trigrams, the Way is opened by the Yì-images; Wén Wáng, Zhōugōng, Confucius successively expounded — in mutual development with the wēiwēi jīngyī (subtle-subtle precision-unity) purport — basing on this xīn chuán. The LǔLùn (Confucius’s Analects) says yī guàn; the Dàxué says míng dé; the Zhōngyōng says lǜ xìng — same single Way, same heart-transmission. Largely all by way of the human-body’s Tàijí in seeking the soundless-and-scentless real-master, gradual to tiāndì wèi, wànwù yù (Heaven-Earth in position, the myriad things nourished). — Where the learning is, that is where the Way is. — Could it be only that the principles-of-people-and-things, regulations-and-cardinals, ritual-and-music, government-and-punishment, are what the Confucians ought to attend to, while putting the xìngmìng learning out of question? Now-vast as ethical-cardinals, now-small as object-and-image — originally all are the myriad differentiations of the Way, and not its single root. — This for sage-worthy-immortal-Buddha is what makes the clear-clear heart-transmission. — This volume was got from the household of my hometown elder; presenting Wújídàozǔ’s revealed sayings as the Confucian-learning’s heart-transmission, with Yíyáng Master Liú’s sayings appended as verification. The Three-Teachings same-source’s purport, the nature-and-mandate’s mystery-marvellous work, simply-and-clearly displayed; the meaning-store fine-and-great, not what ordinary text-criticism-and-evidential learning can compare. — Truly a cresset-light for the world’s yōngfǔ qǔsú (vulgar-rotten and crooked-vulgar) thousand-year dim-road. — In my twentieth year I obtained this volume and treasured it; studying it longer, the more I felt its wonderful-meaning to be without limit. I am now 75, and 55 years have flowed since. I have re-engraved and made it public — that those with aim for the Way, having seen this book, may with body-and-action make it real-cultivation; perhaps suddenly opening the cloud-and-fog and brightly seeing the clear-Heaven, beginning to believe the Three Teachings originally have supreme-attainment, that narration-and-verification themselves are dregs, that the universe between is originally one great-azure-empty-radiant-store. What more is to be said? — Méifāng lǎorén respectfully recorded at the Shǒujīngtáng west-pavilion. — Jiāqìng 8, jǐhài, shàngyuán day.”
Abstract
A late-Qīng Three-Teachings synthesis devotional manual, structured around the canonical xīnchuán doctrine of unity-of-the-Three-Teachings under a Confucian-orthodox roof, with Daoist fújī revelation playing the role of supplementary authority. The 1803 preface is by a 75-year-old re-engraver who had encountered the work in 1748 (at age 20). The base-text composition (the Wújí dàozǔ materials) is therefore likely mid-Qián-lóng. The work is a useful witness to the Three-Teachings devotional movement of the late-eighteenth century in Hénán / Suīyáng — geographically distinct from the principal Sìchuān / Húběi DZJY-source milieu, signalling the broader provincial diffusion of the planchette tradition.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5i0075
- Re-engraver: 梅芳老人 (anonymised); supplementer: 沂陽劉子.