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, sobriquet Yunyang Daoren, was an internal-alchemy master of the Longmen Lineage in the early Qing, active during the Kangxi era; his dates of birth and death are unknown. He once studied under eminent Daoists of the Longmen Lineage, and resided in the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region. His works, the Zhouyi cantong qi chanyou (Elucidating the Obscure in the Zhouyi Cantong Qi, eighth year of Kangxi, 1669) and the Wuzhen pian chanyou (Elucidating the Obscure in the Wuzhen Pian), systematically interpret the Cantong qi and the Wuzhen pian from a standpoint of quiet cultivation, expounding the principles of alchemy chapter by chapter and sentence by sentence; they are regarded by later generations as among the two most detailed and rigorous Qing-dynasty commentaries on alchemical scriptures, and were highly esteemed by Lu Xixing's Eastern Lineage and by Min Yide, among Qing-dynasty figures. His works were later included in the Daozang jiyao and the Daozang jinghua. In his own preface he claimed to have received oral instructions from his master, and throughout his commentary he uses the concept of "prior-heaven primordial pneuma" (xiantian yi qi) to unify the whole text; Ming and Qing alchemists regarded him as the model of the "chanyou" (elucidating the obscure) school of commentary, and in the Republican era Chen Yingning likewise praised his commentaries.

Contributions & Influence

• Wrote the Cantong qi chanyou and the Wuzhen pian chanyou, among the most detailed and rigorous Qing-dynasty commentaries on alchemical scriptures
• Unified his interpretation of the alchemical scriptures around the concept of 'prior-heaven primordial pneuma'
• Highly esteemed 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