Ma Yu马钰

Style & Daoist names

originally named Congyi, courtesy name Yifu, later renamed Yu, courtesy name Xuanbao, sobriquet Danyangzi, Perfected Danyang Who Embraces the One and Practices Non-Action

Period

Jin

Dates

1123 — 1183

School

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism, Yuxian Lineage of Quanzhen

Role

Seven Perfected of QuanzhenFounding Patriarch of the Yuxian LineageInternal Alchemy MastersPoet

Birthplace

Ninghai (present-day Muping, Shandong)

Places of activity

Mount Kunyu, Zhongnan Mountains, Chongyang Palace (Ancestral Temple of Quanzhen)

Life

Ma Yu, a native of Ninghai, Shandong, born into great wealth, took Wang Chongyang as his teacher in 1167 together with his wife Sun Bu'er, and stands foremost among the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen. After Wang Chongyang's death, he escorted the coffin back for burial at Zhongnan and spent over a decade proselytizing in Shaanxi, succeeding to the position of head of the teaching and known as Quanzhen's 'second-generation leader.' Ma advocated clarity, stillness, and non-action, taking 'non-action' as his central tenet; he simplified his master's teachings, stressing that clarity and stillness within the heart constitute cultivation of the Dao, and opposed deliberate asceticism and outward forms — later regarded as the representative of Quanzhen's Clarity and Stillness current. He built Daoist temples and taught the populace throughout Guanzhong, and his numerous disciples formed the lineage later called the Yuxian Branch. Ma Yu was skilled at poetry, and his works are collected in the Dongxuan Jinyu Ji and Jianwu Ji; he and his wife Sun Bu'er are together called the earliest married cultivators of Quanzhen Daoism.

Contributions & Influence

• Succeeded Wang Chongyang, oversaw the early affairs of Quanzhen, and stabilized the order in Guanzhong
• Took clarity and stillness as his central tenet, giving rise to the Yuxian Branch
• Transmitted the teaching through poetry, preserving a large body of early Quanzhen literature

Works

• Dongxuan's Collection of Gold and Jade
• Collection of Gradual Awakening
• Danyang's Radiant Divine Light
• Recorded Sayings of the Perfected Danyang (Ma Yu)
• Direct Words of the Perfected Danyang

Legends

Episodes such as the 'Ten Transformations of Sharing the Pear' and Wang Chongyang's use of three topknots to hint at his coming renunciation appear in Quanzhen hagiography and are legendary.