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Some Wondrous Effects of Inner Calm, As Described and Explained in Yu Yan's Zhouyi Cantong Qi Fahui

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Some Wondrous Effects of Inner Calm, As Described and Explained in Yu Yan's Zhouyi Cantong Qi Fahui religions Article Article Some WondrousSome Wondrous Effects of Effects Inner ofCalm, Inner as Calm, Described as Described and Explainedand Explained in Yu Yan’s in Yu Zhouyi Yan’s cantongZhouyi cantongqi fahui qi fahui Stephen EskildsenStephen Eskildsen Department of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka, Department of Humanities, College of Liberal Arts, International Christian University, 3-10-2 Osawa, Mitaka, Tokyo 181-8585, Japan; [email protected]; Tel.: +81-0422-33-3099 Tokyo 181-8585, Japan; [email protected]; Tel.: +81-0422-33-3099 Received: 29 NovemberReceived: 2018; 29 Accepted: November 30 2018; December Accepted: 2018; 30 Published: December date 2018; Published: 4 January 2019 Abstract: This essayAbstract: examinesThis essaywhat examinesYu Yan’s whatZhouyi Yu cantong Yan’s Zhouyiqi fahui cantongsays about qi fahui the suspensionsays about theof suspension of breathing and pulse,breathing as well and as pulse, the extraordinary as well as the inner extraordinary sensations inner and sensationsvisions that and accompany visions that it. accompany it. Yu Yan maintainsYu that Yan these maintains things that come these about things by comesimply about bringing by simply body and bringing mind bodyto the and depths mind of to the depths of stillness; they stillness;are not theyinstigated are not instigatedthrough delib througherate deliberate procedures procedures such as such holding as holding of ofbreath, breath, visualization, visualization, incantation,incantation, gulping gulping air, air, swallowing swallowing saliva, saliva, etc. Through Through sheer sheer inner inner calm and single-minded single-minded concentration,concentration, breathing breathing and and pulse pulse are are suspended suspended while while an an inner inner qiqi 氣 isis generatedgenerated that surges and that surges and circulatescirculates thethe body,body, bringing bringing forth forth ravishing ravishing sensations sensations and and strange strange visions. visions. Yu Yu Yan Yan explains why the explains why theinner innerqi and qi and the visionsthe visions come come to be to generated, be generated, and whyand onewhy should one should and can and disregard can the visions. disregard the visions.Yu Yan’s Yu descriptions Yan’s descriptions and explanations and explanations regarding innerregarding calm andinner its calm wondrous and its effects help shed wondrous effectslight help on shed the Neidanlight on (inner the Neidan alchemy) (inner methods alchemy) of the methods major traditions of the major of his traditions time (especially of Nanzong his time (especiallyand Quanzhen),Nanzong and revealing Quanzhen), details reve thataling tended details to be that obscured tended in abstruseto be obscured metaphor in or reserved for abstruse metaphororal or transmission. reserved for oral transmission. Keywords: YuKeywords: Yan; ZhouyiYu Yan; cantongZhouyi cantongqi fahui qi fahui; Neidan;; Neidan; qiqi;; breathing;breathing; pulse; pulse; visions; visions; Nanzong; Quanzhen Nanzong; Quanzhen 1. Introduction 1. Introduction Yu Yan 俞0 (ca. 1253–1314) was a private scholar and lay Daoist Neidan 9 (inner alchemy) Yu Yan 俞琰practitioner (ca. 1253–1314) who hailed was a from private Wujun scholar3á and(present lay Daoist day Suzhou Neidan蘇 州内丹) and (inner was alchemy) active during the second practitioner whohalf hailed of the from 13th Wujun century. 吳郡 Though (present he was day an Suzhou erudite 蘇州 Confucian) and was scholar active and during had in the his youth aspired second half of theto the13th civil century. service, Though he shunned he was government an erudite Confucian service after scholar the Song and Dynastyhad in his was youth overthrown by the aspired to the civilMongol service, Yuan he Dynasty. shunned The governme principalnt subjectsservice after he wrote the Song on were Dynasty the Yi was jing overthrown易經 (Book of Changes) and by the Mongol Daoism—especiallyYuan Dynasty. The Neidan. principal1 His subjects reading he in wrote Daoism on waswere extensive, the Yi jing as is易經 apparent (Book from of the numerous Changes) and Daoism—especiallysources he cites in his Neidan. writings,1 His especially reading in in his Daoism collection was of notesextensive, andanecdotes as is apparent entitled Xishang futan from the numerous-上 sourcesPÇ.2 he cites in his writings, especially in his collection of notes and anecdotes entitled Xishang futan 席上腐談.2 1 His output as1 a writerHis output was prodigious, as a writer was though prodigious, some of though his works some ofhave his worksbeen lost. have Preserved been lost. Preservedin the Daozang in the Daozang SÏ (the h易Ã同Q|揮 Ë疑 道藏(the Daoist CanonDaoistCanon compiled compiled in 1445) in 1445) are are ZhouyiZhouyi cantongcantong qi fahuiqi fahui(DZ1005) (DZ1005) 周易參同契發揮, Zhouyi cantong, Zhouyi qi shiyi (DZ1006), Huangdi yinfu jing zhu Ã帝p&經; (DZ125), Yiwai biezhuan 易外%³ (DZ1009), Xuanpin zhi men fu 玄]K門賦 (1010), and cantong qi shiyi 釋疑Lü Chunyang (DZ1006), zhenren Huangdi Qinyuan yinfu chun zhujiejing zhuB純 }黃帝陰符經註真º沁園%; ã(DZ125),(DZ136). Yiwai (The “DZ” biezhuan number 易外別傳 is the number under which (DZ1009), Xuanpinthe zhi text men is cataloguedfu 玄牝之門賦 in (Schipper (1010), and and Verellen Lü Chunyang 2004)) Also zhenren surviving Qinyuan are his chunZhouyi zhujie jishuo 呂純陽真人h易ƪ (Siku quanshu四«h 沁園春註解 (DZ136).ø, vol. (The 21, pp.“DZ” 1–394), numberDu Yi is juyao the讀 number易要 (Siku unde quanshur which, vol. 21,the pp. text 395–471), is catalogued and Xishang in futanKristofer-上P Ç (Siku quanshu, vol. 1061, pp. 597–626). Schipper and Franciscus Verellen eds., The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang.) Also 2 His style name was Yuwu 玉>. His sobriquet was Quanyangzi h}P (Master of Complete Yang), and he also referred to surviving are his himselfZhouyi in jishuo his capacity周易集說 as a Daoist(Siku asquanshu Linwushan四庫全書 Ren 林, Kqvol.º 21,(Man pp. of 1 Mt.–394), Linwu) Du andYi juyao Shidong 讀易擧要 Daoren 石洞Sº (Daoist of 易 ª (Siku quanshu, vol.the 21, Stone pp. Grotto).395–471), According and Xishang to the Sikufutan tiyao 席上腐談’s 四«Ð 要(Sikuentry quanshu concerning, vol. his 1061, work pp.Zhouyi 597 jishuo–626).h Æ , Yu Yan was born at the beginning of the Baoyou P era (1253–1258) of the Song, and died at the beginning of the Yanyou 延P era (1314–1321) 2 玉吾 全陽子 His style name wasof the Yuwu Yuan. See Heyin. HisSiku sobriquet quanshu was zongmu Quanyangzi tiyao ji Siku weishoushumu (Master jinhui of shumu Complete合p四 Yang),«hø= and目Ð 要Ê四«*6ø目 he also referred to禁 himself燬ø目, vol.in his 1, p.ca 49;pacity (Pregadio as a Daoist2008) “Yu as Yan,”Linwushan in The Routledge Ren 林屋山人 Encyclopedia (Man of Taoismof Mt., vol.Linwu) 2, pp. and 1190–91; and The Taoist Shidong Daoren Canon石洞道人, vol. 3,(Daoist p. 1286. of the Stone Grotto). According to the Siku tiyao’s 四庫提要 entry concerning his work Zhouyi jishuo 周易集說, Yu Yan was born at the beginning of the Baoyou 寳祐 era Religions 2019, 10, x; doi: FOR PEER REVIEW www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2019, 10, 31; doi:10.3390/rel10010031 www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2019, 10, 31 2 of 15 Yu Yan’s Zhouyi cantong qi fahui h易Ã同Q|揮 (Exposition on the Concordance of the Three According to the Book of Changes; from here to be referred to as the Fahui)3 is a commentary on the abstruse alchemical classic Zhouyi cantong qi h易Ã同Q.4 In his preface to the Fahui (which he wrote in 1284), Yu Yan reminisces that when he first read the Zhouyi cantong qi he could not understand it, hard though he tried. At that time a certain person (or persons) told him that in order to “cultivate the Elixir” (xiudan 修9), he needed to acquire an “oral lesson” (koujue ã#) from a Divine Transcendent, and that he was certainly toiling in vain by trying to study on his own from a book. Despite being told this, Yu Yan continued to diligently read and study the Zhouyi cantong qi. Though he did not yet understand this text that he believed so devoutly in, he took heart from the fact that “Sir Wei [Boyang] (putative author of the Zhouyi cantong qi) has stated that after you have [read the text] a thousand times in its entirety and [recited it] ten-thousand times, gods will tell [you its meaning] and your mind will understand.”5 Ol有Ch,M^JÃ悟Kª Yu Yan reasoned that the words of such an excellent man certainly could not be deceptive. Yu Yan goes on to reminisce that suddenly one day, after close to a full year of concentrated study of the Zhouyi cantong qi, “my mind became numinous and understood on its own” ÃHê悟; consequently, he “obtained its gates and entered in” 得v門而e. From this point on the text’s meaning started to become remarkably clear to him, “as if there were a god telling it” 若有^JK者; yet the fact remained that Yu Yan sadly “had yet to obtain a transmission from a teacher” *得+承, and thus he could not feel fully convinced of the veracity of what he thought he understood. (See Fahui, prefaces, 5b) Yu Yan could thus only continue to ponder the text’s meaning, often “throughout the night, forgetting to sleep” B夜忘寢; yet, his faith became more devout than ever, until it “ultimately evoked a response from an extraordinary person.” B感pº This “extraordinary person” bestowed instructions upon Yu Yan that dispelled all of his doubts. When Yu Yan took up the Zhouyi cantongqi after this encounter, he readily interpreted its meaning, and could furthermore see that its teachings corresponded perfectly with those of Liu Haichan’s 劉w蟾 Huanjin pian 還金Ç, Zhang Ziyang’s 5+ } Wuzhen pian 悟真Ç, Xue Zixian’s 薛+賢 Fuming pian ©}Ç, and Chen Niwan’s s泥8 Cuixu pian 翠[Ç. (See Fahui, prefaces, 6a) Apparently, in the view conveyed by Yu Yan, reading a text and pondering its meaning can lead to inner awakening and divine revelation.
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