REVIEW OF THE BOOK “THE TEACHINGS OF THE PRIMORDIAL LADY SUN BUER: TAOIST TEACHING FOR WOMEN” BY I.V. BELAYA

In the monograph “The Teachings of the Primordial Lady Sun Buer: Taoist Teaching for Women” (Moscow: Ganga, 2020, 352 pp.), I.V. Belaya considers the Taoist female practices of the Quanzhen school, a topic that has not been studied at all in Russian science. Sun Buer is presented both as a historical person and as an object of religious worship. Also, the monograph provides an overview of Taoist writings, one way or another connected with the name of the mentor Sun Buer. An especially valuable part of the book is a complete translation from the classical Chinese written language of the collection of poetic works “Teachings of the Primordial Lady Sun Buer”. It includes “The Feminine Mastery of Inner Alchemy” ( Nü gong nei dan ) and “The Sequence of Mastering the Skill of Female Tao Path” ( Kun dao gong fu ci di ). I.V. Belaya's monograph contains a number of important theoretical provisions related to the study of Taoist “internal alchemy”, in particular, “female alchemy” ( nü dan ) and acquaints the domestic reader with the original Chinese texts on “female alchemy”.

Chinese Alchemy

Chinese alchemy has a history of more than two thousand years. It is divided into two main branches, known as Waidan 外丹, or External Alchemy, and Neidan 內丹, or Internal Alchemy. Waidan (literally, “external elixir”) arose by the 2nd century bce; it is based on compounding elixirs through the manipulation of natural substances—primarily minerals and metals—which release their essences when they are submitted to the action of fire. Neidan (literally, “internal elixir”), documented from the 8th century ce, aims instead to produce the elixir within the person itself, according to two main models of doctrine and practice: by causing the primary components of the cosmos and the human being—essence (jing精), breath (qi氣), and spirit (shen神)—to revert to their original states; or by purifying the mind from defilements and passions, in order to “see one’s Nature” (jianxing見性). Neither alchemy as a whole, nor Waidan or Neidan individually, constitute “schools” of Daoism, with a definite canonical corpus and a single line of transmission. On the contrary, the respective sources display wide differences in both doctrines and practices. However, if one may attempt to formulate a broad statement that encompasses at least a large part of its different forms, Chinese alchemy is characterized by a foundation in doctrinal principles concerning the relation between the Dao 道 (Way) and the world. The cosmos as we know it is deemed to be the last stage in a sequence of “transformations” leading from Non-Being (wu無) to Unity (yi一), duality (Yin and Yang 陰陽), and finally multiplicity (wanwu萬物, “ten thousand things”). Alchemists intend to trace this sequence backwards and return to its inception. In both Waidan and Neidan, the practice is variously said to grant transcendence (a state described by such expressions as “joining with the Dao,” hedao合道), “immortality” (mainly meant as a spiritual condition), longevity, healing (either in a broad sense or with regard to specific illnesses), and—especially in Waidan—communication with the deities of the celestial pantheon and protection from spirits, demons, and other malevolent entities.

Daoist Meditation

Meditation has been and remains a central practice in the Daoist (Taoist) tradition. This chapter examines Daoist meditation, often referred to as dazuo (“engaging in sitting”) and shouyi (“guarding the One”) in Chinese, from the Later Han dynasty to the present. It provides a general overview of the five major forms of Daoist meditation, namely, apophatic meditation, ingestion, visualization, inner observation, and internal alchemy. Ingestion (fuqi) and visualization (cunxiang) were first systematized in the early medieval period. Inner observation (neiguan), a Daoist adaptation of Buddhist insight meditation (vipassanā), became a central practice during the Tang dynasty. Internal alchemy (neidan) developed during the late Tang dynasty and early Song dynasty. Following this period, apophatic meditation and internal alchemy became the two dominant forms of Daoist meditative praxis. In addition to providing socio-historical background information, this chapter discusses the technical specifics of each type of Daoist meditation, including major texts and informing views.

Lineage Construction of the Southern School from Zhongli Quan to Liu Haichan and Zhang Boduan

Examining relevant Daoist scriptures and records, this article traces the lineage relationship of Zhang Boduan (d. 1082) to his predecessors. His immediate teacher supposedly was Liu Haichan, based on whose teachings he compiled his main work, the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Perfection). First outlined by the Song scholar Lu Sicheng, the story was later expanded in various collections of immortals’ biographies. It is well known that the Southern School of internal alchemy (Golden Elixir) was constructed by Bai Yuchan and his disciples in the early 13th century. I show that this centers on the claim that Zhang Boduan, as Bai’s forerunner, received his teachings from Liu Haichan, a line that was then expanded to include the immortals Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin. I also suggest that the alchemical teaching of the Zhong-Lü tradition is particularly characterized by its emphasis on the dual cultivation of inner nature and life-destiny, focusing on the key concepts of clarity and stillness as well as nonaction, while centering on the reverted elixir of the golden fluid. The teaching matches the Daode jing (Book of the Dao and Its Virtue) instructions to “empty the mind, fill the belly, weaken the will, and strengthen the bones” (ch. 3). This emphasis may well be the reason the Zhong-Lü tradition superseded the Twofold Mystery school flourishing in the Tang and rose to the fore.