Chapter 64: Investigation (Part Two)
Translator: SophiaX Editor: Kurisu
“Dan” ans “single”. [1]
The concept of “one” was very important in the Taoism. One ant “single”, which was in turn equivalent to Dan. This connection demonstrated the process of evolution and branding throughout the Taoist history.
Therefore, the so-called “Dan-bearing” in Taoist jargon was referring to a state when the Qi inside one’s body was llow and plenty enough to dispel the pathogenic energy, prolonging one’s life.
Another example would be the term “Yuan Ying”[2], which was referring to the recovery of one’s original simplicity; by condensing one’s vital essence inside one’s body, one could create another self in pure-energy form, as primordial as a baby.
However, as ti passed, these concepts were misinterpreted by later generations. Dan-bearing was translated into the production of a tangible ball resembling a glass marble, while Yuan Ying beca a bouncing and vivacious little man.
Bullshit.
Let’s talk about “The Kinship of the Three, in Accordance with the Book of Changes” by Wei Boyang again. He proposed to practice both Neidan and Waidan. By using the human body as a cauldron, one could nourish Qi inside one’s body. Combined with consuming Jindan [TL/N: “golden elixir”] as an external source, one could achieve immortality.
This argunt contradicted the mainstream theories at the ti, therefore when the book ca out, it did not attract much attention from his contemporaries.
Similarly, also in Han Dynasty, the Taoism started to shift from a philosophical school towards a religious or more superstitious one. Sects like the Way of the Celestial Masters and other less organized ones were ford, among which were the sect Xiaozhai belonged to–the Ancient Immortal Sect.
The third period ca around a thousand years ago and was nad the “Transformation” period.
The period several centuries after Han Dynasty saw the most prosperous years of the cultivation community. By Wei-Jin period, Waidan and essence-consuming thods had beco the mainstream practices, while Neidan practice turned underground, passing down secretly among the common folks.
Cultivators of this period were divided into three grades. According to the “Immortal Scripture”, “The first-rate cultivators can lift themselves into the sky and are called Heavenly Immortals; the second-rate ones travel freely among famous mountains and are called Earthly Immortals; the third-rate ones would be rid of their bodies only after physical death and are called Corpse-shedding Immortals.”
The so-called Corpse-shedding Immortal referred to the phenonon when one left the mortal world leaving their body behind, or when the body disappeared but left behind so object as a replacent. According to the records, “So man in the capital was released from his physical form. When his coffin was opened several days after his death, only a walking stick was found lying in it.”
This depicted one of the corpse-shedding thods, which was carried out through a walking stick. It went without saying that ascension into heaven by corpse-shedding was considered a third-class technique and was gradually abandoned as a result.
After that ca the Sui and Tang Dynasties, when a great line-up of cultivators such as Zhong Liquan, Lü Dongbin, Chen Tuan and Zhang Guo started to look into the practice of Neidan, supplenting and perfecting the thod.
The inheritance of Waidan and essence-consuming practices suddenly fell out of favor while Neidan practice prevailed in the society again, to such an extent that it seed almost ready to replace every other kind of Taoist skill. “The Kinship of the Three, in Accordance with the Book of Changes” was worshipped as the foundation of all Dan scriptures and nurous sects began to prosper during this ti period.
The fourth stage started over five hundred years ago and was nad “Near-ancient” period.
By then, Neidan practice had unified the Taoist community, to which the chief conflict was represented by the competition among various sects and schools. The Quanzhen School was founded in the north, where Qiu Chuji was teaching the Taoist theories in the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia, who had been granted the power to take charge of the Taoist community in China.
While this was happening in the north, in order to counteract the rise of Quanzhen, the Way of Celestial Masters of Longhu Mountain, Shangqing School of Mao Mountain and Lingbao School of Gezao Mountain combined into a single sect, naly the Zhengyi School [TL/N: the Way of Orthodox Unity], acknowledging Celestial Master Zhang [TL/N: Zhang Daoling] as the sect leader.
As a result, the arrangent of Quanzhen ruling the north and Zhengyi leading the south was ford. However, the Southern Sect founded by Zhang Boduan was also incorporated into Quanzhen later, providing the latter with an unparalleled publicity at the ti.
The Neidan practice thod during this period had been thoroughly perfected and refined, which had resulted in two sets of theories, naly the “Yang spirit” and the “transforming the essence into Qi and Qi into spirit through cultivation, so that the spirit could return to its virtual state”, both of which had been much bragged about throughout history.
However, it marked the last bit of glory of the Taoism. From then on, only Priest Sanfeng [TL/N: Zhang Sanfeng] stood out as a flash in the pan and the religion itself had fallen completely into decay.
***
The Taoist system could be generalized as follows.
The Ancient period was characterized by the emphasis on longevity of the physical body, which had slightly fallen out of favor in the Ancient Immortals period, but the cultivators still paid a lot of attention to enhancing their physical bodies. The Neidan practice did not exist in these two periods.
When the Transformation period arrived, the concept of Neidan was on the rise.
Quanzhen School had basically denied the possibility of achieving immortality in a physical form. Despite the claim of refining both physical and spiritual forms, cultivators of this ti were preferring one form over the other, failing to treat them equally in cultivation.
According to the Neidan practitioners, the ultimate score one could achieve was the release of the Yang Spirit, which was to escape from one’s physical body and ascend to heaven in the form of one’s spirit alone, obtaining longevity.
Despite the long life one could achieve through this thod, it was not an orthodox practice, for without a physical body, one would have abandoned the opportunity of ever approaching the Great Dao. It would be even harder for them to push their cultivation level further and reach the heavenly immortal state.
Moreover, the concept of Yang Spirit was hardly a convincing one. Apart from sporadic deeds of Zhang Boduan, little records exist on the matter.
The Neidan advocates had probably realized this as well, and as a result, any cultivator passed away who had lived long enough was deed to have ascended to heaven and beco an immortal. It was their spirit that had flied up into heaven anyway. Since it was invisible to any onlookers, there was no way to prove or disprove it.
To summarize, the Taoist cultivation system had shifted from the human world to the immortal one, and from consuming essences and Waidan to Neidan practice and releasing Yang Spirit, which was only becoming a shabbier and shoddier path.
***
“Phew…”
Finally having read all the files, Gu Yu involuntarily let out a long breath. Looking up, he saw Xiaozhai lean on her chair, bathed in a soft lamplight. The darkness had set in completely outside the window.
In a split second, he almost forgot where he was.
“Have so water.” Xiaozhai had prepared so drinking water for him in advance. Pushing the glass gently towards him, she said, “I’ll give you a mont to let it sink in.”
“En.”
Taking up the glass, he sipped so first, then tilted his head back and drained it completely.
He couldn’t help it. Right now, various world views were swimming in his head and he could no longer tell true from false. Everything felt unreal. He had talked to old Priest Mo so ti ago, when the latter had a lot to say on the subject.
Being a disciple of the Southern Sect, Priest Mo naturally took his own sect’s side. According to him, the Southern Sect was unparalleled and Zhang Boduan the grandest Taoist founder of his tis. The thods of Yang Spirit and Coordination between Physical and Spiritual Life were the most orthodox approaches there existed in the whole wide world.
However, from the files compiled by Xiaozhai, he could detect an implicit disdain towards Neidan practitioners. Take Yang Spirit as an example. Co to think of it, wasn’t it simply a variation of the Corpse-shedding Immortals?
It should be rated even lower than the Corpse-shedding approach, actually. After all, the latter could take their bodies with them and leave behind an object as a replacent. The Yang Spirit practitioners, on the other hand, had to dump their bodies in the physical world.
As scarce as his speculative knowledge already was, he was in an utter state of confusion due to the impact of reading through the files. He did not manage to co up with a question until quite so ti later. “This stuff you have co up with, are you sure about its accuracy?”
“Those are 40% textual research and 60% speculation of my own.” She answered frankly, then added, “There are a few things that I am quite certain of, though. First, nurous cultivators indeed existed in ancient tis. Second, Wei Boyang did not write his ‘The Kinship of the Three, in Accordance with the Book of Changes’ out of the blue. Sothing must have changed.”
“Exactly!” Gu Yu’s face brightened up and he followed Xiaozhai’s train of thought. “I found it very strange when I was reading just then. The essence-consuming thod was in vogue at the ti and there were frequent records on people ascending to heaven. The skill itself did not appear to be problematic and the authorities showed no intention to obstruct it in any way. There was no reason for him to research into Neidan practice, which was far more inferior to essence-consuming.”
“It has really puzzled as well. But ever since I t you, I was able to co up with a few guesses.”
Looking at Gu Yu, Xiaozhai asked all of a sudden, “Did you say that you could consu natural essences?”
“Yes.”
“In that case, can you tell if the spiritual essence has been there since the ancient tis, or did it just appear out of the blue?”
‘What?’
The question took Gu Yu by surprise, but he imdiately saw what she was getting at. Startled, he said, “Are you saying…”
“Yes! In the Ancient period, cultivating skills were of a minimalist style and with unmatched power. However, they were extrely picky when it ca to the cultivation environnt. All revolutions and reformations in later generations were carried out to lower that standard. Therefore, I think Wei Boyang realized that the spiritual essence was waning as ti passed. If they continued to follow the legacy of ancient skills, when the spiritual essence in this world was used up, it would be the end of the entire cultivation community.”
Xiaozhai paused, then continued her explanation. “Later practices such as Waidan and Corpse-shedding were all in one way or another exploring thods to get rid of one’s physical body. In the end, Neidan practice managed to unify them all. Maybe it was indeed able to open a new path, but you have to realize that only the theories were recorded in the Taoist world, for the cultivating thods themselves were passed on orally from one generation to another.
Taoist sects were engaging in fierce conflicts at the ti, both externally and internally. Quanzhen School alone had dozens of branches and every sect was scrambling for fa and fortune. A lot of sect leaders themselves were inadequate in cultivation, but still instructing disciples. One could imagine what outco this would bring about.
In the several centuries after Priest Sanfeng, not a single figure worth rembering arose from the Taoist community. In my opinion, this was partly due to the loss of Taoist skills and partly because of the drying up of the spiritual essence. Modern tis have seen enough chaos caused by various wars and the Taoist community has gone into seclusion to find so peace and quiet. It was not until ninety years ago when the modern state began to take shape and the Taoist association was established that various sects reerged.”
‘Tsk!’
Gu Yu could not help but interject at this point. “I am practicing the essence-consuming thod now. So, it might indicate that the spiritual essence in this world is recovering?”
“Hehe…”
Blinking, Xiaozhai did not answer him straight away, but chuckled instead. “Do you know what we are doing here now?”
[1] TL/N: The Chinese characters 丹 and 单 have the sa pronunciation, hence the equivalence between the two. On their own, 丹 ans “pill” and 单 “single” in the context here, but as any other Chinese characters, they do have other anings. ED/N: Long story short, 丹 normally refers to pills but the author emphasizes it’s another aning she is talking about.
[2] TL/N: Literally “primary infant”.
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