Complete Works of Zhang Sanfeng张三丰全集

Also known as

Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng, Complete Works of Sanfeng

Author / transmission

Zhang Sanfeng, Li Xiyue

Period

Qing (compiled edition) · Attributed to Zhang Sanfeng of the Yuan–Ming transition, reedited and published by Li Xiyue (Hanxu) in the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang of the Qing (1844); much of the content consists of works attributed to him by later writers.

Canon division

Outside the Canon

Collected in

Outside the Canon (included in the Bi collection of the Essentials of the Daoist Canon)

Category

Alchemical Texts

Fascicles

eight scrolls

Synopsis

The Complete Works of Zhang Sanfeng is a collected edition of Zhang Sanfeng's writings compiled by Li Xiyue in the Qing dynasty, in eight chapters, containing the Treatise on the Great Dao, Direct Lectures on the Mysterious Mechanism, Essays on the Mysterious Essentials, Plain Words on the Dao, twenty-four song-lyrics of The Rootless Tree, Poems on the Golden Elixir, Anthology of Clouds and Waters, together with the Biography of Master Sanfeng, Manifest Traces, and other pieces. Zhang Sanfeng is a legendary figure of the late Yuan and early Ming; the Yongle Emperor of Ming repeatedly sought him out without success, and he was revered by successive dynasties, giving rise to a great many works falsely attributed to him — most of what this collection contains is now generally believed by scholars to be the work of Ming and Qing alchemists writing under his name rather than by Zhang Sanfeng himself. Within the collection, the Treatise on the Great Dao holds that the Three Teachings share a common origin and advocates the dual cultivation of nature and life, while The Rootless Tree, composed in song-lyric form to expound alchemical methods, is the most widely circulated. Li Xiyue claimed to have received transmission from Zhang Sanfeng and on this basis founded the "Western Lineage"; this collection is a core source for understanding the alchemical methods of the Ming–Qing "Sanfeng Lineage" and "Western Lineage," and also the textual basis on which Wudang Daoism reveres Zhang Sanfeng.

Key Ideas

• The Three Teachings share a common origin; dual cultivation of nature and life
• The Rootless Tree: twenty-four alchemical song-lyrics
• Plain alchemical methods in the Direct Lectures on the Mysterious Mechanism and Plain Words on the Dao
• The construction of Zhang Sanfeng's image and the transmission of the Western Lineage

Structure

Eight chapters: biography, Manifest Traces, Treatise on the Great Dao, Direct Lectures on the Mysterious Mechanism, Essays on the Mysterious Essentials, The Rootless Tree, Anthology of Clouds and Waters, and others.

Editions

• Daoguang-era edition compiled and printed by Li Xiyue
• Essentials of the Daoist Canon edition
• Fang Chunyang (punct. and coll.), Complete Works of Zhang Sanfeng (Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House, 1990)

Translations

• Partial English translation by Thomas Cleary (Vitality, Energy, Spirit)

Full Text & Online Resources

• Wikipedia: Zhang Sanfeng
• CTEXT search

Related scriptures

Related figures