Qingwei (Pure Tenuity) School清微派
- Also known as
- Qingwei Thunder Rites, Qingwei Dao, Zu Shu Branch, Huang Shunshen Branch
- Type
- Daoist Schools
- Period
- Southern Song–Ming
- Founded
- Traditionally traced back to Zu Shu at the end of the Tang; took shape under Huang Shunshen (1224–?) at the end of the Southern Song, and flourished greatly in the Yuan
- Founder
- Huang Shunshen
- Region
- Centered at Jianning, Fujian; spread during the Yuan to Jiangxi, Wudang in Hubei, and the whole country
- Ancestral seat
- Wudang Mountains
- Status
- Absorbed into Other Lineages — After the Ming it merged into Zhengyi Daoism and Wudang Daoism, with no independent religious organization; Qingwei Thunder Rites and retreat methods are still transmitted within Zhengyi liturgy, Wudang Daoism, and Taiwanese Daoist altars.
Overview
The Qingwei School is a Thunder Rites Daoist tradition that arose at the end of the Southern Song and into the Yuan, fusing the talismanic methods of the Shangqing, Lingbao, Celestial Masters and Shenxiao traditions, and takes its name from the Heaven of Pure Tenuity (Qingwei tian), where the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning dwells. Its self-narrated genealogy traces back to Zu Shu (Yuanjun) of Lingling, Guangxi, at the end of the Tang, passing down through several generations to Nan Bidao and Huang Shunshen in the Southern Song. Huang Shunshen, styled Huibo, a native of Jianning, Fujian, became famous for Qingwei methods during the Baoyou era (1253–1258), was summoned for audience by Emperor Lizong, and was granted the title 'Perfected of the Thunder Abyss'; he wrote the Qingwei zhaifa and the Qingwei danjue, among other works, and had numerous disciples, causing the Qingwei School to flourish widely. In the Yuan, his disciples Xiong Daohui, Peng Ruli, Zhao Yizhen (who also practised Jingming), and Zhang Daogui (of Wudang) transmitted the tradition in various directions, and Mount Wudang became an important center of the Qingwei School; in the early Ming, Wudang Daoists such as Zhang Sanfeng and Zhang Shouqing both practised Qingwei thunder methods. The Qingwei School advocated 'uniting the four traditions into one,' bringing the ritual methods of Shangqing, Lingbao, Daode (Celestial Masters) and Zhengyi together under Qingwei, taking the Qingwei yuanjiang dafa as its overarching manual, and promoting the unity of Dao and Fa (method) and the oneness of inner and outer, holding that 'method is the function of the Dao, and the Dao is the substance of method' — the performance of Thunder Rites had to be rooted in the internal refinement of the primordial spirit, while its zhai-jiao liturgy synthesized the achievements of the various traditions. In the Ming, the Qingwei School merged together with the Shenxiao School into Zhengyi Daoism, but its name was long preserved within Wudang and various branches of Zhengyi; Qingwei priests still existed in the Qing, and today some Daoist altars in Taiwan, Fujian and Guangdong still claim descent from the Qingwei lineage. The Qingwei School is one of the representative new talismanic schools of the Song and Yuan, and also one of the principal sources of Wudang Daoism.
Core Doctrine
Venerates the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning and the various perfected of Qingwei; advocates uniting the four traditions into one, absorbing the methods of Shangqing, Lingbao, the Celestial Masters and Shenxiao; proposes that the Dao is the substance, method the function, and that one unites one's own spirit with the spirit of heaven and earth, holding that ritual practice must always be grounded in internal refinement; emphasizes rectifying the heart-mind and sincerity of intention, holding that the efficacy of ritual methods depends on the virtue of the practitioner. The Qingwei School's reordering of the Heaven of Pure Tenuity relative to the Three Pure Ones, placing Qingwei above the Celestial Worthy of Primordial Beginning, treats it as the root source of the Dao and its methods, highlighting the idea that the Dao governs method.
Practice & Ritual
Qingwei Thunder Rites (writing talismans, forming hand seals, summoning generals, visualization, dispatching thunder); Qingwei zhai-jiao liturgy (the Qingwei retreat rites, refinement and salvation); conferral of Qingwei ritual registers; internal-alchemical cultivation combined with Thunder Rites; within the Wudang transmission, rites for the cult of Zhenwu are also performed. The Qingwei School also emphasizes 'mental method,' holding that the efficacy of talismans lies in the sincerity of the practitioner's single-minded intent, complementing internal-alchemical cultivation; its zhai-jiao liturgy was extensively incorporated into the Daofa huiyuan in the Yuan.
Transmission
Zu Shu (late Tang, legendary) → Guo Yulong, Fu Ying, Yao Zhuang, Gao Shi, Hua Ying, Zhu Dongyuan, Li Shaowei → Nan Bidao → Huang Shunshen (late Southern Song) → Xiong Daohui, Peng Ruli, Zhang Daogui (Wudang) and others → Zhao Yizhen (end of Yuan, also Jingming) → Ming-dynasty Wudang and various branches of Zhengyi carry on its legacy. Today some Wudang and Zhengyi Daoist altars still identify with the Qingwei lineage.