Huashan Lineage of Quanzhen全真华山派

Also known as

Huashan Lineage, Haozu Branch (Patriarch Hao's Branch), Guangning Branch

Type

Branch Lineages

Period

Jin–Yuan to the Present

Founded

Founded on Hao Datong (1140–1212) as patriarch; took shape in the Yuan

Founder

Hao Datong

Derived from

Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) Daoism

Region

Mount Hua, Shaanxi; Ninghai, Shandong; and the Hebei region

Ancestral seat

Mount Hua (Huashan)

Status

Extant — Huashan Lineage priests continue to be transmitted at Mount Hua and in the northwest, with branches also in Taiwan; its scale is smaller than that of the Longmen Lineage, and it mostly coexists with other Quanzhen lineages.

Overview

The Huashan Lineage was founded by Hao Datong, one of the Seven Perfected of Quanzhen. Hao Datong's given name was Lin, his courtesy name Taigu, and his sobriquet Guangningzi; he was a man of Ninghai in Shandong, expert in the Yijing and in divination. In the eighth year of the Dading reign of the Jin (1168) he took Wang Chongyang as his master, and Wang Chongyang instructed him to 'set aside the study of the Yijing and ask nothing of yin and yang.' He later claimed to have received Wang Chongyang's 'wordless teaching,' and sat in stillness for six years beneath a bridge at Wozhou in Hebei, achieving success through austere cultivation; he thereafter preached in the area of Zhending and Xingzhou, and wrote the Taigu Anthology, expounding the Dao of the elixir through the imagery and numerology of the Yijing, making him the Quanzhen figure who placed the greatest emphasis on the Yijing. In the sixth year of the Zhiyuan reign of Kublai Khan (1269), he was posthumously canonized as 'Perfected Guangning Tongxuan Taigu.' The name 'Huashan Lineage' derives from the tradition that Hao Datong once cultivated the Dao on Mount Hua, and also from the fact that later generations of the lineage venerated Mount Hua as their ancestral court; the lineage descended from Chen Tuan of the Five Dynasties period is separately called the 'Old Huashan School,' distinct from Hao Datong's 'New Huashan Lineage.' Disciples of the Huashan Lineage include Fan Yuanxi and Wang Zhijin; Wang Zhijin was highly influential in the Yuan, and his Recorded Sayings of Panshan is a celebrated work among Quanzhen recorded sayings. From the Ming and Qing onward, the Huashan Lineage was transmitted mainly at Mount Hua in Shaanxi and in the northern regions; Yuquan Temple and Zhenyue Palace on Mount Hua were historically largely Quanzhen temples, and the lineage has its own generation-name poem ('Zhi yi wu shang dao, chong jiao yan quan zhen…'). Today Daoism at Mount Hua remains predominantly Quanzhen, with the Huashan Lineage existing alongside the Longmen Lineage, and priests claiming the Huashan Lineage as their house can be found in Shaanxi, Gansu, Hebei, Taiwan, and elsewhere.

Core Doctrine

Following the Quanzhen teaching, it interprets the Dao of the elixir through the imagery and numerology of the Zhouyi (Book of Changes), holding that 'nature and life are cultivated together, and the Dao is penetrated through the Yijing,' and emphasizing quiet meditation, austere cultivation, and the wordless teaching; the lineage of Wang Zhijin developed the 'Dharma-gate of the Mind-ground,' emphasizing the cultivation of mind and nature. Hao Datong held that the principles of the Yijing and the principles of the elixir are interconnected, correlating the Eight Trigrams and the sixty-four hexagrams with the stages of bodily cultivation; the diagrams recorded in his Taigu Anthology were forerunners of the illustrated expositions of internal alchemy in Quanzhen Daoism.

Practice & Ritual

Quiet sitting in austere cultivation (recalling the episode of Hao Datong's six years beneath the bridge), internal alchemy, Yijing studies and divination, and scripture recitation; leaving the household to reside in temples and receiving ordination in the public monasteries; and transmission by generation names. Huashan Lineage priests also place emphasis on the exposition and divination of the Yijing; in the Ming and Qing, the Daoist temples of Mount Hua practiced both rites of retreat and offering and the Quanzhen monastic system, and in modern times some Daoists at Mount Hua have transmitted martial arts and health-nurturing practices. Daoism at Mount Hua today also preserves part of this tradition.

Transmission

Wang Chongyang → Hao Datong → Fan Yuanxi, Wang Zhijin, and others → transmission in Hebei and Shaanxi during the Yuan → Mount Hua and the northern regions in the Ming and Qing → transmission at Mount Hua, Shaanxi, and Gansu today. Wang Zhijin's 'Panshan' system was highly influential in Hebei and Shanxi during the Yuan; from the Ming onward the Huashan Lineage was centered on Mount Hua in Shaanxi, coexisting with other Quanzhen lineages within the public monasteries.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples