Anthology of Cuixu (Chen Nan)翠虚篇
- Also known as
- Chen Niwan Cuixu Pian (Chen Nan's Anthology of Cuixu), Ziting jing (紫庭经, Purple Court Scripture) (appendix)
- Author / transmission
- Chen Nan
- Period
- Southern Song · Compiled by Chen Nan (d. 1213), around the late 12th to early 13th century, edited by his disciple Bai Yuchan.
- Canon division
- Dongzhen Section, Methods (Fangfa) category (Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection edition)
- Collected in
- Zhengtong Daozang, Dongzhen Section, Methods category, in juan 20 of the Xiuzhen shishu.
- Category
- Alchemical Texts
- Fascicles
- One Fascicle (Juan)
Synopsis
The Cuixu pian (Anthology of Cuixu) is a collection of alchemical poetry and prose by Chen Nan (styled Cuixu, also Niwan), fourth patriarch of the Southern Lineage, containing the Zitingjing, the Luofu cuixu yin, the Danji guiyi lun and other poems and discursive pieces. Chen Nan takes essence, qi and spirit as the Three Treasures, holding that one should 'transform essence into qi, transform qi into spirit, and unite spirit with the Dao,' advocating a simple and direct alchemical method and opposing elaborate and convoluted terminology; his Luofu cuixu yin recounts at length the faults of heterodox alchemical schools, while his Danji guiyi lun describes gathering and taking the pre-celestial through stillness and concentration as the starting point. Chen Nan also transmitted the Thunder Rites of the Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) tradition, so his alchemical method bears the distinctive mark of combining internal cultivation with Thunder Rites, and is the source of his disciple Bai Yuchan's thought on the union of internal alchemy and Thunder Rites. This work is an important text for understanding how the later Southern Lineage came to incorporate Thunder Rites.
Key Ideas
- The Three Treasures of essence, qi and spirit; transforming essence into qi and qi into spirit
- A simple and direct alchemical method, rejecting heterodox schools
- Gathering the pre-celestial through stillness and concentration
- Combining internal alchemy with Thunder Rites
Structure
A combined edition of poetry and discursive prose, in one juan.
Editions
- Xiuzhen shishu edition
- Daozang jiyao edition
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian), Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection, Corpus of Daoist Ritual (Daofa huiyuan)Related figures
Chen Nan, Bai Yuchan, Xue Daoguang- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- 卿希泰主编《中国道教史》第三卷