Wu–Liu School of Internal Alchemy伍柳派

Also known as

The Wu-Liu School of Immortality (Wuliu xianzong), Wu–Liu Alchemical Method, Wu Chongxu and Liu Huayang Branch

Type

School

Period

Ming–Qing

Founded

Wu Shouyang (1574–1644?) of the late Ming wrote the Direct Discourse on the True Principles of Celestial Immortality (completed 1622); Liu Huayang (1736–?) of the Qianlong era of the Qing continued the tradition

Founder

Wu Shouyang, Liu Huayang

Derived from

Longmen (Dragon Gate) Lineage of Quanzhen

Region

Nanchang, Jiangxi, Anhui, and other places

Status

Extant — As a system of alchemical method it is widely transmitted within the Longmen Lineage and among popular practitioners of Internal Alchemy, with no independent temple institution of its own; its works have been repeatedly reprinted and are one of the principal theoretical sources for contemporary writings on Internal Alchemy and qigong.

Overview

The Wu-Liu School is a lineage of Internal Alchemy represented by the master-disciple pair Wu Shouyang and Liu Huayang at the end of the Ming and beginning of the Qing, taking its name from the Qing-dynasty combined edition of their works, The Wu-Liu School of Immortality (Wuliu xianzong). Wu Shouyang, styled Duanyang, style name Chongxuzi, was a native of Nanchang, Jiangxi, who called himself an eighth-generation member of the Longmen Lineage; he studied under Cao Huanyang and Li Niwan, and wrote the Direct Discourse on the True Principles of Celestial Immortality and the Recorded Sayings on the Union of Immortals and Buddhas, organizing his teaching around "refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, and refining spirit to return to emptiness," and used a great many Buddhist terms and Chan concepts to explain alchemical method, advocating the "union of immortals and Buddhas"; his works describe in detail the stages and fire-phasing of a hundred days of laying the foundation, ten months of gestation, three years of nursing, and nine years of facing the wall, and are among the most systematic works of the quiet-cultivation branch of Internal Alchemy. Liu Huayang, a native of Hongdu, Anhui (other accounts say Jiangxi), was originally a Buddhist monk before encountering a transmitter of Wu Shouyang's lineage (accounts differ as to whether this came through a revelation from "the Perfected Wu Chongxu" or through study under his later followers), and wrote the Verified Discourse on the Golden Immortal and the Scripture of Wisdom and Life, explaining alchemical method through Buddhist terms such as "the penetration of the exhaustion of outflow" and "wisdom-life," emphasizing that the essential point of "refining essence into qi" lies in "gathering the lesser medicine," "stopping the outflow," and "turning the wheel of the Dharma," presented with both text and illustration in an accessible style. The alchemical method of the Wu-Liu tradition belongs to the quiet-cultivation branch, resolutely rejecting dual cultivation with a partner and explicitly opposing the use of external substances as the elixir, holding instead that the elixir lies in one's own essence, qi, and spirit; because of its strong practical applicability, it circulated very widely within the Longmen Lineage and among popular practitioners from the Ming and Qing onward, becoming a standard introductory model for Internal Alchemy practice in modern times; Zhao Bichen of the Qianfeng Lineage at the end of the Qing, and many works on qigong since the Republican era, have been based on the Wu-Liu tradition. Among the earliest Internal Alchemy texts translated into Western languages was also the Scripture of Wisdom and Life (as an appendix to Richard Wilhelm's translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower).

Core Doctrine

It takes essence, qi, and spirit as the "three treasures" serving as the medicine, cultivating both nature and life but beginning with the work on life; it advocates the "union of immortals and Buddhas," holding that the Buddhist "penetration of the exhaustion of outflow" and the Daoist "refining essence into qi" share the same purport; it practices strict quiet cultivation, opposing both dual cultivation with a partner and the ingestion of external elixirs; and it emphasizes proceeding step by step through set stages: laying the foundation, refining essence into qi (the lesser celestial circuit), refining qi into spirit (the greater celestial circuit), and refining spirit to return to emptiness.

Practice & Ritual

Quiet sitting and regulating the breath, guarding the lower Cinnabar Field in the mind, gathering the lesser medicine, circulating the celestial circuit, stopping the fire, warming and nourishing, emerging in spirit, and returning to emptiness; Liu Huayang describes in detail essential instructions such as "turning the wheel of the Dharma," "gathering the medicine," "refining the self," and "stopping the outflow," combined with the holding of precepts, quiet cultivation, and the cutting off of desire. The Wu-Liu alchemical method places particular emphasis on timing the gathering of the medicine, as in the sayings "when the moment arrives, the spirit knows" and "the living zi hour," and holds strict quiet cultivation and the observance of precepts to be prerequisites, opposing any quest for quick results.

Transmission

The Longmen Lineage: Zhao Zhensong → Wang Changyue? (Wu Shouyang's own account of studying under Cao Huanyang and Wang Changyue is of uncertain reliability) → Cao Huanyang → Wu Shouyang → later transmitters of Wu Shouyang's lineage → Liu Huayang (who claimed to have received the transmission of the Perfected Wu Chongxu) → the Chan masters Liaoran and Liaokong of the Qing → Zhao Bichen (Qianfeng Lineage) at the end of the Qing → numerous practitioners transmitting the teaching from the Republican era onward.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures