Wang Wenqing王文卿

Style & Daoist names

Yudao, Shudao, Chonghezi, Master Chongxu Miaodao, Shichen (Attendant of the Imperial Presence), Wang Shichen (Wang, Attendant of the Imperial Presence)

Period

Northern Song and Southern Song

Dates

1093 — 1153

School

Shenxiao (Divine Empyrean) School

Role

Patriarch of the Shenxiao SchoolGrand Master of Thunder Rites

Birthplace

Nanfeng, Jianchang (present-day Nanfeng, Jiangxi)

Life

Wang Wenqing, styled Yudao (also given as Shudao), sobriquet Chonghezi, was the great master of Shenxiao Thunder Rites in the late Northern and early Southern Song, known to his generation as 'Attendant Wang.' According to his biography, he traveled widely, and in the early Xuanhe era met Master Wang (also identified as the Perfected Fire Master Wang) in Yangzhou, who transmitted to him the way of soaring in spirit to petition the Sovereign and the arts of Thunder Rites; he later encountered the Fire Master again at the Qingzhen Grotto-Heaven, who transmitted to him the Thunder Scriptures. In the fourth year of the Xuanhe era (1122) Huizong received him in audience and granted him the title 'Master of Mysterious Emptiness and Wondrous Dao,' and he rose in office to Grand Master of Supreme Simplicity and Attendant of the Hall of Concentrated Spirit, ranking alongside Lin Lingsu as the most important figures of the Shenxiao School. After the Jingkang catastrophe he lived in reclusion in Jiangxi; Emperor Gaozong once summoned him, and he died in the twenty-third year of the Shaoxing era (1153). He systematically expounded the theory of Shenxiao Thunder Rites, holding that one unites one's own essence with the essence of Heaven and Earth, and one's own spirit with the spirit of Heaven and Earth, taking internal cultivation as the substance and talismanic ritual as the function, and fusing internal alchemy with Thunder Rites — becoming the shared theoretical source for the Thunder Rite lineages of the Song and Yuan (Shenxiao, Qingwei, and Tianxin). He wrote the Chongxu Tongmiao Shichen Wang Xiansheng Jiahua, the Lei Shuo, the Xuanzhu Ge, and the Wang Shichen Qidao Baduanjin, among other works, collected in the Daofa Huiyuan. He had a great many disciples, through whom the Five Thunders Rite was transmitted.

Contributions & Influence

• Established the theory of Shenxiao Thunder Rites, taking internal alchemy as substance and talismanic ritual as function
• The Lei Shuo and Xuanzhu Ge became core texts of Thunder Rite doctrine
• Ensured the continued transmission of the Shenxiao School after the Southern Song

Works

• Household Sayings of Master Wang, Chongxu Tongmiao Shichen
• Discourse on Thunder
• Song of the Mysterious Pearl
• Eight Pieces of Brocade for Prayer by Attendant Wang
• Great Rites of the Five Thunders and Fire Chariot of Shangqing Thunder (attributed title)

Legends

Legend holds that he met the Fire Master in Yangzhou, who transmitted Thunder Rites to him, and that he could raise clouds, bring rain, and command thunder and lightning — this is legendary material.