Sanfeng Lineage三丰派
- Also known as
- Zhang Sanfeng Branch, Sanfeng Ziran (Naturalness) Branch, Yinxian (Hidden Immortals) Lineage (later phase), Wudang Sanfeng Branch
- Type
- Branch Lineages
- Period
- Ming–Qing to the Present
- Founded
- Founded on Zhang Sanfeng of the late Yuan and early Ming as patriarch; took shape between the Ming and Qing, with its genealogy fixed after Li Xiyue compiled the Complete Works of Zhang Sanfeng in the Qing
- Founder
- Zhang Sanfeng
- Derived from
- Wudang Daoism
- Region
- The Wudang Mountains in Hubei, Sichuan, Jintai Temple in Baoji, Shaanxi, and the whole country
- Ancestral seat
- Wudang Mountains
- Status
- Extant — Daoist priests of the Sanfeng Lineage are transmitted at Mount Wudang and in Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, and elsewhere (mostly also affiliated with the Quanzhen system); martial arts groups of the Sanfeng Lineage are found throughout China and overseas.
Overview
The Sanfeng Lineage is a Daoist tradition honoring Zhang Sanfeng as its founding patriarch, transmitted mainly at Mount Wudang. Zhang Sanfeng, given name Quanyi, also called Junbao, style Sanfeng, was a native of Yizhou in Liaodong (other accounts give other places), active in the late Yuan and early Ming at Jintai Temple in Baoji, Shaanxi, at Mount Wudang, and elsewhere; according to the History of Ming, he was "tall and imposing, with the build of a tortoise and the back of a crane, large ears and round eyes"; he wore but a single robe and cloak in both winter and summer, and could travel a thousand li in a day. The Hongwu and Yongle Emperors of Ming repeatedly sent envoys to seek him out without success, and the Yongle Emperor's great building project at Wudang was also connected with him; the Yingzong Emperor conferred on him the title "Perfected Who Penetrates the Subtle and Manifests Transformation," the Xianzong Emperor "Immortal of Hidden Light Who Cherishes Aspiration," and the Shizong Emperor "Perfected Lord of Clarity, Emptiness, and Primordial Mystery." There are many legends about Zhang Sanfeng, and his actual life and writings are difficult to verify with certainty; works attributed to him include the Treatise on the Great Dao, Direct Discourse on the Mysterious Mechanism, the Essays on the Mysterious Essentials, and lyrics such as The Rootless Tree, advocating the syncretism of the Three Teachings, the dual cultivation of nature and life, and that "cultivating the Dao is rooted in cultivating the mind"; in the Daoguang era of the Qing, Li Xiyue compiled these into the Complete Works of Zhang Sanfeng. Zhang Sanfeng's disciples included Qiu Xuanqing, Sun Biyun, Lu Qiuyun, Liu Guquan, and Yang Shancheng, and the "Sanfeng Lineage" took shape in the Ming dynasty, with shrines to him found in many Wudang temples. Later generations of the Sanfeng Lineage further branched into groups such as the Ziran (Natural) Branch, the Sanfeng Penglai Branch, the Sanfeng Rixin Branch, and other named branches, each with different generation-name poems, spread across Wudang, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Yunnan, and other regions; Li Xiyue of the Western Lineage of Internal Alchemy also honored Sanfeng as founding patriarch. Zhang Sanfeng was also honored by the martial arts world as the founder of internal-family boxing (taijiquan), a claim that originates in Huang Zongxi's Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan of the late Ming and early Qing; scholars mostly regard this as a later attribution without historical basis, but its influence has been enormous. Today, the Wudang Mountain Taoist Association includes Daoist priests of the Sanfeng Lineage, and martial arts groups at home and abroad also frequently identify themselves under the name of the Sanfeng Lineage.
Core Doctrine
Inheriting Quanzhen Daoism's purport of the syncretism of the Three Teachings and the dual cultivation of nature and life, it emphasizes "first cultivate the way of being human, then cultivate the way of the immortal," taking loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness as the foundation for cultivating the elixir; it holds that "the Great Dao takes cultivating the mind and refining the nature as paramount," and opposes heterodox methods and "plucking and battling" techniques involving women; it expounds the stages of Internal Alchemy through lyrics such as The Rootless Tree; and it advocates expressing the Dao through martial arts and cultivating both movement and stillness (a later elaboration).
Practice & Ritual
Quiet sitting in Internal Alchemy, austere quiet cultivation, wandering and reclusive living; Wudang internal-family boxing and Daoyin health practices (the Thirteen Postures of Taiji and so on, traditionally traced to him); worship and ritual for Zhenwu; and generation-name sequences (such as "Xuan Yun Tong Dao Ju, Duan Jing Bai Zi Xu...," which differ among branches). The Sanfeng Lineage also places great emphasis on reclusive cultivation and wandering, advocating "dwelling in seclusion in the mountains and forests, without craving fame or profit"; its Daoist priests at Wudang temples often also practice Qingwei Thunder Rites and the Quanzhen liturgy.
Transmission
Chen Tuan → the Perfected Huolong (Fire Dragon) → Zhang Sanfeng (a genealogy of the "Yinxian" (Hidden Immortals) Lineage retroactively constructed by later generations) → Qiu Xuanqing, Sun Biyun, Lu Qiuyun, Liu Guquan, Yang Shancheng, and others → the various Wudang temples of the Ming and Qing → branches such as the Ziran, Rixin, and Penglai Branches emerging in the Qing → honored by Li Xiyue as founding patriarch of the Western Lineage → present-day Daoist priests of the Sanfeng Lineage at Wudang and elsewhere, and martial arts groups.