Collected Works of Bai Yuchan白玉蟾集（玉隆集·上清集·武夷集）
- Also known as
- Recorded Sayings of the Perfected Bai of Haiqiong, Haiqiong's Collection of Inquiries into the Dao, Collected Works of the Perfected Bai of Qiongguan
- Author / transmission
- Bai Yuchan
- Period
- Southern Song · The poetry and prose of Bai Yuchan (1194–c. 1229), compiled by his disciple Peng Si and others, printed at the end of the Southern Song; the Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection includes the three works Yulong Ji, Shangqing Ji, and Wuyi Ji, alongside the separate Haiqiong Bai Zhenren Yulu, Haiqiong Wendao Ji, and Haiqiong Chuandao Ji (海琼传道集, Collection on the Transmission of the Dao from Haiqiong).
- Canon division
- Dongzhen Section, Methods (Fangfa) category (Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection edition)
- Collected in
- Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era, Dongzhen Section, Methods category, Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection, scrolls 33 to 49; the recorded sayings are in the Zhengyi Section
- Category
- Alchemical Texts
- Fascicles
- Collection of Yulong (6 scrolls), Collection of Shangqing (8 scrolls), Collection of Wuyi (3 scrolls), among others
Synopsis
Bai Yuchan, fifth of the Five Southern Patriarchs and the effective founder of the Southern Lineage as an organized school, left his poetry, prose, and alchemical writings scattered across the Yulong Ji (玉隆集), the Shangqing Ji (上清集), and the Wuyi Ji (武夷集) — collected in the Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection — as well as the Haiqiong Bai Zhenren Yulu (海琼白真人语录, Recorded Sayings of the Perfected Bai of Haiqiong) and the Haiqiong Wendao Ji (海琼问道集, Collection of Questions on the Dao from Haiqiong), among other works. Bai Yuchan's alchemical method takes essence, qi, and spirit as the Three Treasures, holding that one should “command qi with spirit, and retain the body with qi,” teaching that “the Way of the golden elixir is simple, not complicated,” and combining it with the internal cultivation of Thunder Rites — “inward cultivation to form the elixir, outward application to work rites” — thereby introducing Shenxiao Thunder Rites into the Southern Lineage; the Haiqiong Wendao Ji clarifies nature, life, and Fire Phasing through question and answer, while the Yulong Ji consists largely of literary writings and liturgical invocations (qingci) for jiao rites. His writing is brilliant, and he was versed in both Confucianism and Buddhism, earning him the epithet “the foremost man of talent of the Southern Lineage” and making him a rare example in Daoist history of a poet, calligrapher, and painter all at once. This body of texts is a core source for the study of the formation of the Southern Lineage, the union of internal alchemy with Thunder Rites, and the Daoist culture of the late Southern Song.
Key Ideas
- Essence, qi, and spirit as the Three Treasures; commanding qi with spirit
- The golden elixir as simple, needing no external aids
- The union of internal alchemy and Thunder Rites
- The establishment of the Southern Lineage as an organized school
Structure
The Yulong Ji, Shangqing Ji, and Wuyi Ji are collections of poetry and prose; the recorded sayings and the Wendao Ji are in question-and-answer form.
Editions
- Edition in the Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection
- Edition of the Haiqiong Bai Zhenren Yulu in the Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era
- Zhu Yihui (collated and annot.), Complete Works of Bai Yuchan (Hainan Publishing House, 2004)
Translations
- Studied by Lowell Skar; described in Judith Boltz, A Survey of Taoist Literature (1987)
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Ten Books on the Cultivation of Perfection, Anthology of Cuixu (Chen Nan), Corpus of Daoist Ritual (Daofa huiyuan), Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian)Related figures
Bai Yuchan, Chen Nan, Peng Si- 朱逸辉校注《白玉蟾全集》
- Judith Boltz, A Survey of Taoist Literature, 1987
- 卿希泰主编《中国道教史》第三卷