Heart Methods of the Dragon Gate Lineage龙门心法

Also known as

Platform Scripture of the Jade Garden, Wang Changyue's Heart Methods of the Dragon Gate Lineage

Author / transmission

Wang Changyue

Period

Qing · Wang Changyue (1594?–1680) conferred precepts and gave dharma-talks at the White Cloud Temple in Beijing, the Jade Garden in Nanjing, and elsewhere, from the thirteenth year of Shunzhi through the Kangxi reign; his disciples recorded his talks, the work took shape during the Kangxi reign, and it was published under the title Heart Methods of the Dragon Gate Lineage during the Qianlong reign.

Canon division

Outside the Canon

Collected in

Outside the Canon (included in Daoist Texts outside the Canon, vol. 6; included in the Essentials of the Daoist Canon under the title Platform Scripture of the Jade Garden)

Category

Precepts and Rules

Fascicles

2 scrolls, 20 lectures

Synopsis

The Heart Methods of the Dragon Gate Lineage is a record of the dharma-talks given by Wang Changyue, seventh-generation precept master of the Quanzhen Longmen Lineage, in the early Qing while conferring precepts, compiled by his disciples Shao Shoushan, Zhan Shouchun and others, in twenty lectures: Taking Refuge in the Three Treasures, Repenting Sinful Karma, Cutting Off Obstructions, Renouncing Attachments of Love, Strict and Refined Observance of the Precepts, Enduring Humiliation and Subduing the Mind, Purifying Body and Mind, Seeking a Master and Inquiring after the Dao, Equally Sustaining Concentration and Wisdom, Secretly Practicing the Cultivation of Perfection, Repaying Kindness and Dispelling Calamity, Setting One's Resolve and Making Vows, Verifying the Effects, Preserving Life and Prolonging the Years, Elucidating the Teaching and Spreading the Dao, Saving and Delivering Sentient Beings, the Radiance of Wisdom, the Wondrous Function of Spiritual Powers, Comprehending Life and Death, and the Perfection of Merit and Virtue. Wang Changyue held that "the precepts are the first barrier of Quanzhen," taking the observance of precepts as the foundation of cultivation, while also incorporating Chan Buddhist mind-methods and Confucian ethics, and expounding "the dual cultivation of nature and life" with illuminating the mind and seeing one's true nature as its guiding principle; it is the theoretical program of the Qing-dynasty revival of the Longmen Lineage. This book turned Quanzhen Daoism from an emphasis on alchemical methods toward an emphasis on precepts and the cultivation of mind and nature, and had a profound influence on the Quanzhen order from the Qing dynasty onward.

Key Ideas

• The precepts as the first barrier of cultivation
• A sequence from taking refuge and repentance, through making vows, to the perfection of merit and virtue
• Equal emphasis on illuminating the mind and seeing one's nature, and on observing the precepts
• The program of the Longmen revival

Structure

Twenty lectures, one topic per lecture.

Editions

• Qianlong-era block-printed edition
• Essentials of the Daoist Canon edition (as Platform Scripture of the Jade Garden)
• Daoist Texts outside the Canon, vol. 6

Translations

• Studies by Monica Esposito (Creative Daoism, 2013, and others)

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Wang Changyue
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

Related figures