Zhu Yuanyu朱元育

Style & Daoist names

sobriquet Yunyang Daoren (Wayfarer of Yunyang)

Period

Qing

Dates

? — ?

School

Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen

Role

Commentator on Alchemical ScripturesInternal Alchemy Masters

Birthplace

Beihai (alternatively Zhejiang)

Life

Zhu Yuanyu, styled Yunyang Daoren, was an internal alchemist of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage in the Kangxi era of the early Qing; his dates are unknown. He studied under eminent masters of the Longmen Lineage and lived in the Jiangsu–Zhejiang region. His Zhouyi cantong qi chanyou (Elucidating the Obscure in the Zhouyi cantong qi, eighth year of Kangxi, 1669) and Wuzhen pian chanyou (Elucidating the Obscure in the Wuzhen pian) interpret the Cantong qi and the Wuzhen pian systematically from the standpoint of solitary cultivation, expounding the principles of alchemy chapter by chapter and phrase by phrase; later ages counted them among the two most detailed and meticulous commentaries on the alchemical classics produced in the Qing, and Qing alchemists such as the Eastern Lineage (the line of Lu Xixing) and Min Yide all held them in esteem. His works were later included in the Daozang jiyao (Essentials of the Daoist Canon) and the Daozang jinghua (Essence of the Daoist Canon). In his own preface he states that he received oral instructions from his master, and throughout his commentaries he threads the whole with the "pre-celestial One Qi" (xiantian yiqi); Ming and Qing alchemists took him as the model of the "elucidating the obscure" school of commentary, and in the Republican era Chen Yingning too commended his work.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Cantong qi chanyou and the Wuzhen pian chanyou, the most detailed and meticulous Qing commentaries on the alchemical classics
• Threaded his exegesis of the alchemical classics throughout with the "pre-celestial One Qi"
• Held in esteem by modern alchemists such as Chen Yingning

Works

• Elucidating the Hidden Meaning of the Zhouyi Cantong qi
• Elucidating the Hidden Meaning of Awakening to Reality