Wu Shouyang伍守阳

Style & Daoist names

Style name Duanyang, self-styled Chongxuzi, Wu Chongxu

Period

Late Ming–early Qing

Dates

1574 — c. 1644 (alternatively 1652)

School

Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen, Wu–Liu School of Internal Alchemy

Role

Internal Alchemy MastersPatriarch of the Wu-Liu SchoolTransmitter of the Longmen lineage

Birthplace

Nanchang (present-day Nanchang, Jiangxi)

Life

Wu Shouyang, courtesy name Duanyang, sobriquet Chongxuzi, was a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi, a celebrated late-Ming master of internal alchemy, eighth-generation Longmen lineage, and honored as the founding patriarch of the Wu-Liu School. He studied under Cao Huanyang (Cao Changhua) and others, and also received transmission from Li Niwan; he advocated pure (solitary) cultivation, explicitly opposing paired cultivation of yin and yang and bedchamber techniques, and divided internal-alchemical cultivation into the three stages of "refining essence into breath, refining breath into spirit, and refining spirit to return to emptiness," systematizing the sequence of "a hundred days laying the foundation, ten months of gestation, three years of nursing, and nine years facing the wall." He drew extensively on Buddhist terminology (giving particular weight to the Shurangama Sutra), advocating the "unified lineage of immortals and buddhas." His works, the Direct Discourse on the True Principles of Celestial Immortality and the Recorded Sayings on the Union of Immortals and Buddhas, are known for their clarity of exposition and orderly sequence of stages, and became among the most widely circulated alchemical textbooks of the Ming and Qing; his teaching was later carried on by Liu Huayang, giving rise to the name "Wu-Liu School."

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Direct Discourse on the True Principles of Celestial Immortality, systematically organizing the sequence of pure-cultivation alchemical method
• Advocated the "unified lineage of immortals and buddhas," fusing Chan Buddhism with alchemical practice
• Laid the foundation of the Wu-Liu School, influencing internal-alchemy practice in the Qing dynasty and today

Works

• Direct Discourse on the True Principles of Celestial Immortality
• Recorded Sayings on the Union of Immortals and Buddhas
• Nine Chapters on the Way of the Elixir
• Essential Instructions on the Golden Elixir