Fangxian Dao (Way of the Fangshi and Immortality-seekers)方仙道

Also known as

Fangshi (Master of Methods), School of Immortality Seekers (Shenxianjia), Immortality Techniques and Magic Arts

Type

Folk Daoist Ritual Traditions

Period

Warring States–Qin-Han

Founded

Arose in the mid-to-late Warring States period along the coast of Yan and Qi

Region

Yan and Qi (the coastal areas of present-day Shandong and Hebei), expanding to the Guanzhong region and the whole country during the Qin and Han

Status

Absorbed into Other Lineages — From the end of the Han it was incorporated into the various schools of Daoism, and its immortality beliefs, external alchemy, and life-nourishing techniques became constituent parts of Daoism. The term "fangshi" later came to refer broadly to practitioners of esoteric arts, and no longer designated any particular school.

Overview

Fangxian Dao is the general term for the immortality beliefs and traditions of esoteric arts current from the Warring States through the Qin and Han, taking its name from the Records of the Grand Historian's "Fengshan" chapter: "they practiced the Way of the Fangshi and immortality-seekers, [holding that] the body could be released and dissolved [into immortality], relying on the affairs of ghosts and spirits." In the Warring States period, masters of methods (fangshi) along the coasts of Yan and Qi claimed that at sea lay the three sacred mountains of Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou, home to immortals and the elixir of deathlessness; King Wei and King Xuan of Qi and King Zhao of Yan all sent envoys out to sea to seek immortals. After Qin Shi Huang unified the empire, masters of methods such as Xu Fu, Lu Sheng, and Hou Sheng were ordered to seek the elixir of immortality, and Qin Shi Huang made repeated tours to the eastern coast; under Emperor Wu of Han, masters of methods such as Li Shaojun, Shaoweng, Luan Da, and Gongsun Qing won favor through techniques such as sacrificing to the Stove God, transmuting cinnabar into gold, communicating with spirits, and performing the Feng and Shan sacrifices. The intellectual foundations of Fangxian Dao include Zou Yan's theory of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases and the concept of immortality and deathlessness; its techniques encompass circulating breath, daoyin exercises, ingestion, abstention from grain, bedchamber arts, alchemy, and sacrificial ritual. Fangxian Dao had no unified organization and no systematic doctrine, but it established "attaining immortality through long life" as a goal achievable through cultivation and technique, forming a genealogy of immortals (such as the Queen Mother of the West, Anqi Sheng, and Xianmen Gao) and the rudiments of life-nourishing technique, directly constituting the source of later Daoism's immortality beliefs and refinement and cultivation techniques. Scholarship generally regards Fangxian Dao, together with Huang-Lao Daoism, as one of the two forerunners of Daoism.

Core Doctrine

Holds that through means such as ingesting the elixir of immortality, alchemy, and circulating breath, a person can be "released and dissolved" in body and attain deathless long life, ascending to become an immortal and rising to heaven; it maintains that Heaven and humanity resonate with each other, that Yin-Yang and the Five Phases govern the changes of the cosmos, and that ghosts and spirits can be sacrificed to and summoned. Immortals dwell in the sacred mountains at sea or in paradises such as Kunlun. Compared to Huang-Lao Daoism, Fangxian Dao placed greater emphasis on the concrete practice of esoteric techniques and individual immortality, with less of a political-philosophical character.

Practice & Ritual

Seeking the elixir of immortality, going to sea in search of the sacred mountains, sacrificing to the Stove God and practicing alchemy (transmuting cinnabar into gold), circulating breath and daoyin exercises, abstaining from grain while practicing ingestion, bedchamber arts, observing vapors and celestial signs for divination, and performing the Feng and Shan sacrifices. These techniques were later systematically summarized in Ge Hong's Baopuzi: Inner Chapters, becoming the technical source for the various systems of Daoist external alchemy, internal refinement, and retreat-and-offering ritual. Masters of methods also frequently served rulers by observing vapors, watching the stars, and performing divination, combining the quest for immortality with state sacrifice.

Transmission

Zou Yan's theory of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases and the tradition of masters of methods in Yan and Qi → masters of methods of the Qin (Xu Fu, Lu Sheng) → masters of methods of the reign of Emperor Wu of Han (Li Shaojun, Luan Da, Gongsun Qing) → the prognostication texts and immortality specialists of the two Han dynasties → merging with Huang-Lao Daoism and incorporated into the Way of Great Peace, the Way of the Celestial Masters, and Ge Hong's Golden Elixir tradition. No lineage of master-to-disciple transmission can be traced for Fangxian Dao. Its figures appear mostly in the Records of the Grand Historian, the History of the Han, and the Biographies of Exemplary Immortals.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples