The Golden Elixir

Reproduced from:

The Encyclopedia of Taoism, ed. by Fabrizio Pregadio

Routledge, 2008

The term Shangqing initially denoted a corpus of scriptures revealed to Yang Xi (330-86) between 364 and 370 (see table 21). With later "apocryphal" texts, these scriptures were adopted by the southern Chinese aristocracy in the fifth and sixth centuries and were assigned the highest rank within the Three Caverns (sandong) of the Taoist Canon. Later, the same term also designated a religious movement, whose actual founder was Tao Hongjing (456-536), with its own patriarchs (see table 22), holy places, liturgy, and a large number of other texts.

As a body of doctrines and practices, Shangqing developed in southeastern China after the imperial court and the upper classes fled from the north, which had been invaded by non-Chinese peoples, and settled in the Jiangnan region. Here they were confronted by a local Chinese aristocracy of long standing that sought to reaffirm its own traditions over those imported from the north. Shangqing thus marked a revival of the religious legacy of southern China. Claiming to be on a higher level than its forerunners, it consists of a synthesis of the native ecstatic tradition, the late-Zhou and Han traditions of immortality seekers, and the religion of the Celestial Masters (Tianshi dao) imported from the north. Besides a few local cults, Shangqing also incorporated — in a superficial way, but for the first time in Taoism — some features borrowed from Buddhism, and its sources show traces of the debates on wu and you (Non-being and Being) that had engaged the Xuanxue (Arcane Learning) thinkers. All these elements were blended into a coherent whole, imbued with reminiscences of old Chinese myths and of the literary tradition represented by the Chuci (Songs of Chu; trans. Hawkes, The Songs of the South) and by Sima Xiangru (ca. 179-117 BCE; Hervouet, Le chapitre 117 du Che-ki). This gave the Shangqing texts a remarkable poetic and literary quality, and secured them success among the Chinese intelligentsia.

History

The revelations received by Yang Xi were addressed to the Xu family, especially Xu Mi (303-76) and his son Xu Hui (341-ca. 370), of whom Yang Xi was a client. The Xus, who had been related for many generations to Ge Hong's family, were based in Jurong (near Nanjing, Jiangsu). Xu Mi's grandson, Xu Huangmin (361-429), disseminated the Shangqing manuscripts when he moved further south to Zhejiang, and upon his death bequeathed them to the Ma and Du families. These events marked the first dispersion of the original manuscripts, which was to be followed by several others. In the early 5th century, Wang Lingqi and Xu Huangmin's son, Xu Rongdi (fl. 431-32), produced many forgeries.

Before Tao Hongjing, several medieval Taoists — notably Lu Xiujing (406-77) and Gu Huan (420/428-483/491) — tried to reassemble the original texts, but Tao's effort was by far the most successful. Also thanks to his work, the school became the foremost Taoist tradition between the sixth and tenth centuries. Emperors interested in the Shangqing scriptures bestowed their favors upon the patriarchs of the school, including Sun Youyue (399-489), Tao Hongjing, Wang Yuanzhi (528-635), Pan Shizheng (585-682), Sima Chengzhen (646-735), and Li Hanguang (683-769). Shangqing texts were the main sources of Taoist encyclopedias of that time (especially the Wushang biyao and the Sandong zhunang), and served as inspiration to Wu Yun (?-778), Li Bai (Li Bo, 701-62), and many other poets. In Song times, patriarchs like Zhu Ziying (976-1029) and Liu Hunkang (1035-1108) initiated emperors and their families into the Shangqing mysteries. The Taoist section of the Taiping yulan (Imperial Readings of the Taiping Xingguo Reign Period), a major encyclopedia published in 983, and the ritual collections compiled in that period, such as the Wushang xuanyuan santian Yutang dafa (Great Rites of the Jade Hall of the Three Heavens, of the Supreme Mysterious Origin; CT 220), contain significant portions of Shangqing materials. From the 13th century, the Shangqing school lost much of its authority as the Celestial Masters gained ascendancy. The Shangqing registers (lu), however, still ranked above all others.

Salvation and Immortality

As a religion, Shangqing reconciles different ideas about salvation based on a threefold conception of the human being:

• A human being is a complex individual: immortality implies the unification of the >spirits and entities that compose and animate the person.
• A human being is linked to his ancestors whose sins and merits fall on him, and his salvation cannot be separated from theirs.
• Salvation involves a cosmicization and is thus universal, in the sense that the adept inwardly becomes one with the universe.

In Shangqing, immortality is a private pursuit, without the intervention of human intermediaries. The ultimate goal of the adept's quest is illustrated by the image of the cosmic saint (shengren), which is rooted in the Zhuangzi, the Liezi, and the Huainan zi, and integrates features drawn from popular imagery. Once an adept has obtained immortality, he will dwell in Emptiness and his body will emanate a supernatural radiance. He will enjoy eternal youth, have supernatural powers, and become one with the great forces of the universe. The terms used to describe this state indicate a transcendence of the dualism of life and death; for instance, the adept asks to "take his pleasure far away, where there is no round or square, deeply beyond phenomena, where Non-being and Being blend in Darkness," and to be born and die with the Void.

Immortality is no longer as evidently physical as it was in Ge Hong's tradition; if it is a bodily immortality, it involves the achievement of a spiritual body through meditation. Shangqing adepts aim at having their names written in the registers of life (shengji) held by divinities, or at unraveling the mortal knots that human beings are born with (Robinet, Taoist Meditation, 139-43). Salvation can also be obtained after death: an adept can ascend from the state of an "underworld governor" (dixia zhu, an immortal of inferior rank) to that of a celestial immortal. The Shangqing idea of rebirth as a way of salvation is very different from the Buddhist notion of reincarnation, and is an innovation that heralds Neidan.

Human beings have three main possibilities for rebirth. One of them is based on a new view of shijie (release from the corpse) as a stage of Taoist ascesis: when purification during life has remained incomplete, the body awaits purification in an intermediary realm such as the Great Yin (Taiyin). The adept may also be reborn in paradises where he undergoes purification by fire and is revived as an immortal. Finally, rebirth can also occur during one's lifetime, through experiencing again one's embryonic development. The latter method is called "nine transmutations" (jiuzhuan) or "ninefold elixir" (jiudan), two terms that relate rebirth to alchemy but on a purely spiritual level.

Gods and Spirits

In their relationships with divine beings, adepts strive to become one with them, sometimes with a touch of chaste love. Divinities are intercessors who appear to the believer and help him on his way to salvation, giving him the keys to celestial palaces, revealing their names and toponymy to him, and nourishing him with cosmic or celestial effluvia. The gods descend into the adept and guide him to the celestial kingdoms, hand in hand, where they share their pastimes with him. This relationship is remarkably different from the one described in the scriptures of the Celestial Masters. It is expressed in numerous hymns blending bliss, exaltation, and mystical joy that appear for the first time in a Taoist movement.

The various gods are all different forms of the Primordial Beginning, and can take many appearances. Among the highest are the Celestial King of Original Commencement (Yuanshi tianwang, see sanqing); the Most High Lord of the Dao (Taishang daojun); the Imperial Lord (Dijun); the Imperial Lord of the Golden Portal (Jinque dijun), who is also known as the Saint of the Latter Age (housheng) and is identified with Li Hong (Laozi's appellation as the messiah); the Queen Mother of the West (Xiwang mu); and her companion Qingtong (Azure Lad). Their primary role is to serve as mediators, and they are at the source of major revealed texts.

Shangqing inherits the Taoist vision of humanity as embodying many spirits, which is first found in the Han "weft texts" or weishu (the names of several spirits are the same or similar in both corpora). Cosmic deities, including the gods of the stars, the planets, and the five sectors of space, play a fundamental role in visualizations. They descend into the believer's body to make it luminous. Many live simultaneously in the heavens and within the human being, regularly inspecting the lives of adepts and updating the registers of life and death. Shangqing also maintains the earlier notions of the three Cinnabar Fields (dantian) and the Three Corpses (sanshi; see sanshi and jiuchong). In contrast to the Three Palaces of earlier times, however, Shangqing texts imagine that the brain is divided into Nine Palaces (jiugong), which became a standard feature of Taoist subtle physiology. In addition, twenty-four effulgent gods dwell in the body, divided into three groups of eight known as the bajing (Eight Effulgences), each of which is governed by one of the Three Pure Ladies (Sansu). These spirits play a key role in unraveling the mortal knots of the body. The Five Gods (wushen) of the registers of life, who live in the brain, lungs, liver, heart, and lower abdomen, are directed by the Great One (Taiyi) in the brain (see Taidan yinshu).

Cosmology and Cosmography

Shangqing cosmology follows the traditional Chinese pattern based on the numbers 3 and 5 (see sanwu): a vertical threefold division into Heaven, Earth, and Humanity corresponds to a horizontal fivefold division into the wuxing. There are Nine Great Primordial Heavens created from pure cosmic pneuma, each of which in turn gives rise to three heavens for a total of thirty-six heavens (sanshiliu tian). Another series is formed by eight heavens arranged horizontally. The Heavens of the Three Clarities (sanqing see pictures) are superior stages in the adept's progress. Other paradises are the stations of the sun, moon, and other astral bodies (planets, constellations, and the Northern Dipper or beidou), as well as the far ends of the earth, sometimes designated after ancient myths. The Southern Paradise is a place of purification and rebirth.

Besides the traditional Five Peaks (wuyue), Shangqing cosmography includes other sacred mountains corresponding to the Grotto-Heavens and the Blissful Lands (dongtian and fudi). The axis of the world is Mount Kunlun, also called Xigui shan (Turtle Mountain of the West) or Longshan (Dragon Mountain). Other mountains, such as the Renniao shan (Mountain of the Bird-Men), play an analogous role.

The underworld is a counterpart of the Dipper. Located in the mountain-city of Fengdu, its administration is governed by the Northern Emperor (Beidi) and is organized into six courts that judge the dead (six is a Yin number, related to obscurity and death). The end of the world, often evoked in Shangqing scriptures, is described in the Santian zhengfa jing (Scripture of the Orthodox Law of the Three Heavens; CT 1203; Ozaki Masaharu, "Taijō santen seihō kyō seiritsu kō"), in a way reminiscent of ideas already found in the Hanshu (History of the Former Han). The end of a cosmic cycle comes when the Yin and Yang pneumas reach their point of exhaustion. A lesser cycle ends after 3,600 celestial Yang or 3,300 terrestrial Yin revolutions, while a greater cycle ends after 9,900 celestial Yang or 9,300 terrestrial Yin revolutions. The Mother of Water (Shuimu), a "celestial horse" (tianma), a "great bird" (daniao), and Li Hong are the judges who, at that time, descend to earth to judge humanity.

Gods and Spirits

Unlike the communal rites of the Celestial Masters, the Shangqing practices are individual and emphasize meditation and visualization. The bureaucratic and theurgic aspects of the Celestial Masters' relationship to their gods are ignored: the celestial beings are not summoned with petitions but are invoked with prayers or chants, and there are no warlike struggles with demonic spirits. Physiological techniques and the ingestion of drugs and herbs are considered as minor; sexual practices are condemned or are interiorized and sublimated. The ritual aspect of the practices is flexible, and one is not impelled to observe the formal rules if it is impossible to do so.

The great variety of Shangqing practices can be categorized as follows:

• Charms, recitations (songjing), and hymns, usually accompanied by visualizations (cun), whose purpose is to exterminate demons, summon spirits, or obtain salvation.
• Visualization of spirits, some celestial and some corporeal (often both), who come to animate and spiritualize the body (see Huangting jing and Dadong zhenjing). The adept blends them all into one, and unites himself with them. Often at the end of these visualizations everything in the world and outside of it becomes effulgent. This group also includes the method of the Three Ones (sanyi) described in the Ciyi jing, the Suling jing, and the Jiuzhen zhongjing.
• Ecstatic metamorphoses (see bianhua).
• Methods aiming at having one's name inscribed in the "registers of life" (Ciyi jing, Basu jing, and Taidan yinshu).
• Methods for loosening the mortal knots of the embryo (Basu jing, Jiuzhen zhongjing, and Taidan yinshu).
• Ecstatic excursions (yuanyou) and absorption of astral efflorescences (Basu jing and Jiuzhen zhongjing).

Interiorization is the major innovative feature of Shangqing, and its main legacy for Taoism. It consists of actualizing (cun), i.e., giving existence to entities pertaining to an imaginative and mystical world that lies between spiritual and physical existence (see xiang). The adept has direct access to the sacred: the role of intermediary is not played by priests or other ritual officiants but by the scriptures themselves, which organize and codify relations between humanity and the gods, and between ordinary and sacred life. The importance of the written texts is emphasized to such a degree that the master's role consists only in certifying their legitimate transmission. The Shangqing scriptures are divine and precosmic, a token bestowed by the deities that promises salvation.