A Study On Chen Zhixu's Life And Thought

Chen Zhixu陈致虚, zi Guanwu观吾, hao Shangyang zi上阳子(b. 1290). Chen Zhixu was a native of Luling庐陵(Ji'an吉安, Jiangxi) but was active in many provinces of Southern China. Chert became a Taoist at the Zixiao guan紫霄观temple in his hometown. In 1329, Chen became a disciple of the alchemist Zhao Youqin赵友钦, hao Yuandu zi缘督子. In the course of his peregrinations in the Jiugong shah九宫山range in Hubei, Chen acquired many followers. The school he founded constituted a branch of the Quanzhen全真movement that traced its origin to Ma Danyang马丹阳. Chert Zhixu also linked it to the syncretist movement "uniting the Three Teachings". In his own writings, Southern school (Nanzong南宗) Taoism and Chan teachings predominate. Chen is credited with numerous works in the Daozang that are mostly concerned with Inner Alchemy and self-cultivation. He is also the auther of major commentaries on the Book of Salvation (Duren ring度人经) and the "Essay on the Realization of Perfection" (Wuzhen pian悟真篇). Study of Chen Zhixu's life and his thought of Inner Alchemy, is significant to understanding the development of inner alchemy in the mid-ending term of Yuan Dynasty.Chen Zhixu's works always allude throughout to Chan gong'an公案riddles. Also of interest is his frequent use of Chan technical terms, such as jianxing cheng fo见性成佛, that is, the attainment of buddhahood upon beholding the buddhanature within oneself. Among the standard Buddhist sutra, the Diamond Sutra, the scripture most revered by Sixth Patriarch Huineng惠能of the Southern school of Chan, is most frequently quoted in the text. Chen's works represent a harmonious concord between xing性and ming命. The entire works are theoretical, cryptic, and allusive—as Chen himself says, the text alone, without indications from a master, was of no use. The elixir, is for him the ineffable, all-embracing, immanent, and transcendental qi of "Former Heaven". Chen Zhixu nevertheless, in keeping with the Wuzhen pian tradition, shows a close familiarity with alchemical terminology that may be applied to both neidan内丹and waidan外丹. The way to attain the elixir consists first in acquiring a thorough understanding of social rules, then in meditation resulting in wisdom.Inner alchemy is the dominant form of Daoist meditation today. A complex system of practices that includes traditional visualization, operative alchemy, and the symbolism of the Yijing (Book of Changes易经), it works through a series of energetic mutations within the body with the goal of concocting an interior elixir and creating an immortal embryo, thereby to attain a spiritual state of transcendence.The earliest traces of an interior elixir appear among Highest Clarity sources of the fourth century. As a coherent system, however, the first traces of inner alchemy appear in the late Tang, but it really only came to flourish in the Song, especially in south China, where it was most closely associated with a school that came to be known as the Southern School. This school followed an earlier tradition known as the Zhong-Lu school after the two immortals Zhongli Quan钟离权and Lu Dongbin吕洞宾, and was developed by Zhang Boduan张伯端and Bai Yuchan白玉蟾. Since then, inner alchemy has undergone numerous developments, split into a large variety of schools, created specialized practices for women, and became the leading practice of the Quanzhen school of Daotism全真道, which is the dominant form of monastic Daoism today. Despite this essential importance to Chinese religious history, it has not been studied widely and its lineages and practices are not well understood at all.What we do know so far is that in the most general terms inner alchemical practice can be described as a process in three phases or transformations: from essence or vitality (jing精) to energy (qi气), from energy to spirit (shen神), and from spirit to emptiness (Dao道). The first step, after ensuring bodily health though longevity techniques and focusing the mind with concentration exercises, is to become aware of one's essence, the rather gross and materially tangible form of qi that develops in the human body as it interacts with the world and appears most obviously as sexual energy—semen in men and menstrual blood in women. Essence is not there at all times but is produced from internal qi. Its original form resides in the Ocean of Energy (qihai气海) in the lower cinnabar field in men, while in women it is found in the Cavern of Energy in the solar plexus or chest area. From here, if left to its natural devices, this qi transmutes into essence on a regular basis, in men whenever sexual stimulation occurs, in women with the menstrual cycle. This in turn leads to a discharge of the valuable internal qi and to loss of vitality. The aim of this first stage of inner alchemical practice, then, is to restore essence back to its original form as qi-energy and to prevent its future disintegration.To do this, one must avoid the downward movement of essence. For men this means that they should get aroused almost to the point of ejaculation, then mentally concentrate on making the semen flow upward and along spine into the head. This is called "reverting the semen to nourish the brain". Once a man has reached proficiency in the practice and will no longer ejaculate, texts say that he has "subdued the white tiger". Men then proceed to circulate the reverted energy (parallel to the reverted cinnabar in alchemy) along the meridians that follow the spine and run down the front of the body (the governing and conception vessels), in a cycle known as the "microcosmic orbit". Eventually the qi will form a divine "pearl of dew" in the abdominal cinnabar field. This is a first coagulation of stronger and purer qi that lays the foundation for the next level.The second stage sees the transformation from this newly found, pure qi-energy into spirit. Now the "pearl of dew" is developed into the "golden flower" with the help of transmuted energy. To do this, yin and yang are identified as different energies in the body and described with different metaphors, depending on the level of purity attained. The texts describing these advanced practices tend to be rather obscure and highly metaphoric, and at each stage of the transmutation process, the energies are given a different name and different metaphors are employed.Eventually adepts learn to not only mix them in the abdomen but to revolve them through an inner-body cycle that includes not only the spine and breastbone but leads all the way to the feet and is known as the "macrocosmic orbit". Gradually they are refined to a point where they become as pure as the celestials and form the "golden flower", the first trace of the immortal embryo in the lower cinnabar field. The process is complex and time-consuming, and must be timed in exact correspondence with the cosmic patterns of yin and yang.Adepts then proceed to the third stage. The as yet semi-material body of the embryo is now transformed into the pure spirit body of the immortals, a body of pure yang, of cosmic life—not of life as opposed to death or yang as opposed to yin. To attain its full realization the embryo has to undergo several phases. First it is nourished to completion and begins to have an independent existence. Then it is carefully nurtured for three more years to grow further and learn to move about on its own. At this level it joins the adept and as one they exit the body along the spine and through the top of head, a point known as the Heavenly Gate. In a third phase, the adept through the immortal child learns to blend his existence with emptiness and dissolve into Dao. This third part is ideally accomplished in nine years of meditation. Finally, the adept becomes an immortal spirit of pure yang and he merges completely with the Dao.