Fifteen Essays to Establish the Teaching: A Founding Text of Complete Reality Taoism (Kindle Neidan Texts Book 4)

The author of this text, Wang Chongyang, was the founder of the Northern Lineage (Beizong) of Neidan, or Internal Alchemy. Also known as Wang Zhe, he apparently led a rather turbulent life until 1159, when he is said to have met Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin (two illustrious Taoist immortals, related to several Neidan lineages) and to have become an ascetic. From 1167, he begun preaching with his followers in the northeastern province of Shandong. In the strict sense, the Northern Lineage consists of Wang Chongyang and his seven main disciples. The Northern lineage is the original nucleus of Quanzhen (Complete Reality), which continued to develop and is in the present day, with Tianshi dao (Way of the Celestial Masters), one the two main branches of Taoism, headquartered in the Baiyun guan (Abbey of the White Cloud) in Beijing. Within Neidan, the Northern Lineage is especially important for its teachings on inner Nature (xing) and Existence (ming), on the equivalence between inner Nature and the Golden Elixir, and on the practice of “clarity and quiescence” (qingjing). While there are reasons to doubt that the Fifteen Essays to Establish the Teaching, which combines doctrinal teachings and advice on lifestyle, is actually Wang Chongyang’s own work, it is nevertheless deemed to be an original Beizong/Quanzhen document. This ebook contains a complete translation of the text. This anthology presents complete or partial translations of sixteen important works belonging to the Taoist tradition of Neidan, or Internal Alchemy . While the selections are far from covering the whole field of Neidan-a virtually impossible task, given its width and variety-they are representative of several lineages and branches. Titles have been selected in this perspective and are arranged chronologically, in order to provide an overview not only of Neidan, but also of the history of its discourses and practices. Four of the sixteen texts are integrally translated. Six texts and two commentaries are translated in this book (entirely or partially) for the first time into English. The book is concluded by several tables and by an index of the main terms. CONTENTS (Titles marked with an asterisk are integrally translated) Foreword Sources 1. The Seal of the Unity of the Three ( Cantong qi ) 2. (*) The Hidden Agreement ( Yinfu jing ), with comm. by Yu Yan 3. Mirror for Compounding the Medicine ( Ruyao jing ), with comm. by Wang Jie 4. The Transmission of the Dao from Zhongli Quan to L Dongbin ( Zhong-L chuandao ji ) 5. Awakening to Reality ( Wuzhen pian ), by Zhang Boduan 6. (*) Four Hundred Words on the Golden Elixir ( Jindan sibai zi ), attr. to Zhang Boduan, with comm. by Peng Haogu 7. Pointers to the Mystery ( Zhixuan pian ), by Bai Yuchan 8. Model Images of the Golden Elixir ( Jindan faxiang ), by Weng Baoguang 9. Questions and Answers on the Golden Elixir ( Jindan wenda ), by Xiao Tingzhi 10. (*) Fifteen Essays to Establish the Teaching ( Chongyang lijiao shiwu lun ), by Wang Zhen (Wang Chongyang) 11. The Harmony of the Center ( Zhonghe ji ), by Li Daochun 12. The Great Essentials of the Golden Elixir ( Jindan dayao ), by Chen Zhixu 13. (*) Rectifying Errors for the Seekers of the Golden Elixir ( Jindan jiuzheng pian ), by Lu Xixing 14. Principles of the Conjoined Cultivation of Nature and Existence ( Xingming guizhi ) 15. The Secret of the Golden Flower ( Jinhua zongzhi ) 16. Discriminations on Difficult Points in Cultivating Reality ( Xiuzhen biannan ), by Liu Yiming Tables Index of Main Terms Glossary of Chinese Characters Works Cited This short work is an excerpt from Taoist Internal Alchemy: An Anthology of Neidan Texts, Golden Elixir Press, 2019 (ISBN 978-0-9855475-5-4). It is a complete rendition of Wang's 12th century AD work, excellently transalted from the original Chinese. Title Page Copyright Page Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Golden Elixir Press Notes