Unofficial History of Fanghu (Lu Xixing)方壶外史

Also known as

Lu Xixing's Unofficial History of Fanghu, Treatise on the Surface of Mystery (included)

Author / transmission

Lu Xixing

Period

Ming · A compilation of the writings of Lu Xixing (1520–c. 1606), published during the Wanli reign, comprising fifteen works.

Canon division

Outside the Canon

Collected in

Outside the canon (included in volume 5 of Daoist Texts outside the Canon)

Category

Alchemical Texts

Fascicles

8 scrolls, 15 items

Synopsis

The Unofficial History of Fanghu (Fanghu waishi) is the collected writings of Lu Xixing (sobriquet Qianxu), founder of the Eastern Lineage of internal alchemy in the Ming dynasty, comprising fifteen works including the Xuanfu lun (Treatise on the Surface of the Mystery), the Jindan jiuzheng pian (Chapter Seeking Correction on the Golden Elixir), the Jindan dazhi tu (Chart of the Great Purport of the Golden Elixir), the Qipo lun (Treatise Refuting Seven Heterodoxies), the Laozi xuanlan (Mysterious Vision of the Laozi), a commentary and an exposition of oral meanings on the Zhouyi cantong qi, a short preface to the Awakening to Reality, a further commentary on the Zhouyi cantong qi, and a commentary on the Wushang yuhuang xinyin miaojing (Wondrous Scripture of the Jade Emperor's Mind-Seal). Lu Xixing claimed to have received alchemical methods revealed by Lü Dongbin, and advocated the dual cultivation of nature and life with 'dual cultivation of yin and yang' as its essential method, holding that 'the way of the golden elixir must draw on a like kind.' His Xuanfu lun, in twenty chapters, expounds the principles of nature and life, the cauldron and tripod, the medicines, and fire phasing, and serves as the theoretical program of the Eastern Lineage; his Qipo lun refutes heterodox paths. Lu Xixing was also well versed in Confucianism and Buddhism, having annotated the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, and the Śūraṅgama Sūtra, and is regarded as one of the most deeply learned scholars of internal alchemy in the Ming dynasty; his theory of dual cultivation of yin and yang influenced the Western Lineage of Li Xiyue in the Qing.

Key Ideas

• Dual cultivation of yin and yang, drawing the golden elixir from a like kind
• The Xuanfu lun: principles of nature and life, cauldron, medicines, and fire phasing
• The Qipo lun refutes heterodox paths
• An alchemist versed in all Three Teachings

Structure

Eight scrolls, containing fifteen treatises and commentaries.

Editions

• Wanli-era block-print edition
• Volume 5 of Daoist Texts outside the Canon

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Lu Xixing
• CTEXT Search

Related scriptures

Related figures