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Genealogy of the Immortals of the Qingwei Tradition清微仙谱

Period
Yuan · Compiled by Chen Cai, with a preface dated to the yiyou year of the Zhiyuan era, Yuan dynasty (1285); records the Qingwei transmission down to Huang Shunshen.
Canon division
Zhengyi Section
Collected in
Zhengtong Daozang, Zhengyi Section
Category
Immortal Biographies
Fascicles
One Fascicle (Juan)

Synopsis

The Qingwei Xianpu (Genealogy of the Immortals of the Qingwei Tradition) is a one-fascicle genealogy of the Qingwei school's patriarchal transmission, compiled by Chen Cai in the early Yuan. The text traces the origin of the Qingwei method to the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, passing through the patriarchs of the Shangqing (Wei Huacun), Lingbao (Ge Xuan), Daode (Laozi), and Zhengyi (Zhang Daoling) traditions, until at the end of the Tang, Zu Shu united the four traditions into one, called "Qingwei"; the transmission then passed through Guo Yulong, Fu Ying, Yao Zhuang, Gao Shi, Hua Ying, Zhu Dongyuan, Li Shaowei, and Nan Bidao, down to Huang Shunshen (1224–?), who greatly promoted the teaching at the end of the Southern Song, with disciples spread throughout the north and south. Each patriarch in the genealogy is accompanied by a short biography and the essentials of the method he transmitted, making this a fundamental document for studying the origins of the Qingwei school, the construction of its transmission lineage, and the theology of "the convergence of the four traditions," to be cross-referenced with the Qingwei Zhaifa, the Qingwei methods in the Daofa huiyuan, and the later Qingwei Shenlie Mifa (Secret Methods of the Divine Fury of Qingwei).

Key Ideas

  • The constructed transmission narrative of Qingwei uniting the four traditions
  • The genealogy from Zu Shu to Huang Shunshen
  • The self-narrated origin story of a new Yuan-dynasty talismanic school

Structure

One fascicle, comprising a preface and the sequence of patriarchal biographies.

Editions

  • Zhengtong Daozang edition
  • Zhonghua Daozang, vol. 46

Full Text & Online Resources

Related scriptures

Retreat Rites of the Qingwei Tradition, Corpus of Daoist Ritual (Daofa huiyuan)

Related figures

Huang Shunshen, Wei Huacun
References
  1. 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
  2. 卿希泰主编《中国道教史》第三卷
  3. Judith Boltz, A Survey of Taoist Literature, 1987