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{{short description|Daoist classic}}
{{italic title}}
The '''''Wuzhen pian''''' ({{lang-zh|c=悟真篇|p=Wùzhēn piān|w=''Wu-chen p'ien''|l=Folios on Awakening to Reality/Perfection}}) is a 1075 [[Taoist]] Canon|Taoist classic]] on [[Neidan]]-style [[internal alchemy]]. Its author [[Zhang Boduan]] ({{lang-zh|c=張伯端|labels=no}}; 987?–1082) was a [[Song dynasty]] scholar of the [[Three teachings]] ([[Confucianism]], [[Taoism]], and [[Chinese Buddhism|Buddhism]]).
 
==Title==▼
''Wuzhen pian'' combines three Chinese words.▼
*''wu'' [[Wikt:悟|悟]] "realize; awaken; understand; perceive (esp. truth)", viz. Japanese ''[[satori]]''▼
*''zhen'' [[Wikt:真|真]] "true, real, genuine; really, truly, clearly; (Daoist) true/authentic character of human beings"▼
*''pian'' [[Wikt:篇|篇]] "piece of writing; strip of bamboo, sheet of paper; article, essay, chapter"▼
The [[Chinese character]] ''wu'' 悟 "awaken; realize", which is written with the "heart/mind [[radical (Chinese character)|radical]]" 忄and a [[phonetic]] of ''wu'' [[Wikt:吾|吾]] "I; my; we; our", has a literary [[variant Chinese character]] ''wu'' [[Wikt:寤|寤]] "awake; wake up" with the "roof radical" 宀, ''qiang'' 爿 "bed", and this ''wu'' 吾 phonetic. Compare the given name of [[Sun Wukong]] 孙悟空, the central character in [[Journey to the West]], which literally means "Awaken to Emptiness".▼
 
The ambiguity of the ''Wuzhen pian'' title, and by extension the text itself, is illustrated by these English renderings:▼
*Essay on the Understanding of the Truth{{sfn|Davis|Chao|1939}}▼
*Folios on the Apprehension of Perfection{{sfn|Boltz|1987}}▼
*Awakening to Perfection{{sfn|Kohn|1993}}▼
*Understanding Reality{{r|Cleary1997}}{{sfn|Wong|1997}}▼
*Chapters on Awakening to the Real{{r|Crowe2000}}▼
*Chapters on Awakening to Perfection{{sfn|Komjathy|2004}}▼
*The Essay on Realizing the Truth{{r|Bertschinger2004}}▼
*Awakening to Reality{{sfn|Pregadio|2009}}▼
 
==Author==
Zhang Boduan, or Zhang Ziyang ({{lang-zh|c=張紫陽|labels=no}}), was a native of [[Tiantai 天臺County|Tiantai]] in present-day [[Zhejiang]]. After passing the [[Imperial examination]], he began a career as a civil servant, but was banished to the frontier in [[Lingnan]], where he served as a military commissioner. Zhang was later transferred to [[Guilin]] and [[Chengdu]], where in 1069 he allegedly experienced sudden realization from a [[Taoist master]] who instructed him in ''Neidan'' internal alchemy. Zhang wrote the ''Wuzhen pian'', its appendices, and a few other texts, including the ''Jindan sibai zi'' ({{lang-zh|c=金丹四百字 "|l=Four hundred words on the Golden Elixir"|links=no}}).{{r|DavisChao1940}} He was additionally an authority on [[Chan Buddhism]].
 
Biographical sources agree that Zhang Boduan died in 1082 CE during the reign of [[Emperor Shenzong of Song]], but disagree whether he was born in 983, 984, or 987. Zhang was honorifically called Ziyang Zhenren ({{lang-zh|c=紫陽真人|labels=no}}), ranking him as a Taoist ''[[zhenren]]'', 真人a "real/true/authentictitle person;that perfected/authenticshares person"the (theword ''zhen'' in(real/true/authentic) thewith ''Wuzhen pian''), one rank higher than a ''[[Xian (Taoism)|xian]]'' 仙 "transcendent; immortal" in the celestial hierarchy.
 
The [[Quanzhen School]] of Taoism originated in the 12th century with the Five Northern Patriarchs ([[Wang Chongyang]] and his successors). In the 13th century, Zhang Boduan posthumously became the second of the Five Southern Patriarchs in the so-called ''Nanzong'' ({{lang-zh|c=南宗 "|l=Southern Lineage"|labels=no}}), which Boltz refers to as "ex post facto".{{sfn|Boltz|1987|p=173}}
 
In [[Shaanxi]], [[Hong Kong]], and [[Singapore]], there are ''Zhenren Gong'' ({{lang-zh|c=真人宮 "|l=Real/Perfected Person Temples"|labels=no}}) dedicated to Zhang Boduan.
 
==Texts==
The received ''Wuzhen pian'' text contains a preface dated 1075 and a postface dated 1078, both under the name Zhang Boduan. The [[Daozang]] "Taoist Canon" includes several textual editions of varying lengths.
 
The core of the ''Wuzhen pian'' comprises 81 poems: 16 heptasyllabic ''[[Lüshi (poetry)|lüshi]]'' 律詩 "regulated poems", 64 heptasyllabic ''[[jueju]]'' 絕句 "stopped-short line" quatrains, and one pentasyllabic verse on the ''Taiyi'' ({{lang-zh|c=太一 "|l=Great Unity"|labels=no}}). Both 16 (= 2 x 8) and 64 (= 8 x 8) have numerological significance, the former denotes two equal "8 ounce" measures of [[Yin and Yang]] (alchemical allusions for mercury and lead) totaling "16 ounces" (one ''jin'' 斤 "[[catty]]"), and the latter correlates with the 64 [[hexagramHexagram (I Ching)|Yijing''I Ching'' hexagrams]].
 
Zhang later appended the ''Wuzhen pian'' text with 12 alchemical ''[[ci (poetry)|ci]]'' 詞(i.e., "lyrics") that numerologically correspond to the 12 months, and 5 verses related with the ''[[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|Wu Xingwuxing]]''. 五行 "Five Phases".
 
Baldrian-Hussein describes the text.:
<blockquote>The verses of the ''Wuzhen pian'' are a work of literary craftsmanship and were probably intended to be sung or chanted. They teem with paradoxes, metaphors, and aphorisms, and their recondite style allows multiple interpretations. The verses are widely accepted as an elaboration of the ''Zhouyi cantong qi'', but their philosophical basis is in the ''Daode jing'' and the ''Yinfu jing''. Life, says Zhang Boduan, is like a bubble on floating water or a spark from a flint, and the search for wealth and fame only results in bodily degeneration; thus human beings should search for the Golden Elixir (''jindan'' 金丹) to become celestial immortals (''tianxian'' 天仙).{{sfn|Baldrian-Hussein|2007|p=1082}} </blockquote>
 
The ''Wuzhen pian'' is one of the major scriptures of Taoist ''[[Neidan]]'' ("Inner Alchemy ") and metaphorically uses the vocabulary of ''[[Waidan]]'' ("External Alchemy"), which involved compounding elixirs from minerals and medicinal herbs. The text proposes that External Alchemy is unnecessary because the human body contains the essential components. These [[Three Treasures (Traditional Chinese Medicine)|Three Treasures]] are ''[[Jing (TCMChinese medicine)|jing]]'' [[Wikt:精|精]] "essence; refined, perfected; extract; sperm, seed", ''[[qi]]'' [[Wikt:氣|氣]] "vitality, energy, force; vapor; breath", and ''[[Shen (Chinese "spirit; god"religion)|shen]]'' [[Wikt:神|神]] "spirit; soul, mind; god, deity". Through alchemical refinement of bodily ''jing'' and ''qi'', one can supposedly achieve integration with one's spiritual ''shen'' nature.
 
==Commentaries==
The intentionally abstruse and highly symbolic language of the ''Wuzhen pian'' is open to diverse interpretations. Many commentators, both Taoist and otherwise, have explicated the text.
 
The [[Taoist Canon]] includes a dozen commentaries (''zhu'' 主) and sub-commentaries (''shu'' 疏) to the ''Wuzhen pian''.{{sfn|Baldrian-Hussein|2007|pp=1082-3}} Major commentaries are by Ye Shibiao (葉士表; (dated 1161), Yuan Gongfu (遠公輔; (dated 1202), and several (dated 1335 and 1337) by Weng Baoquang (翁葆光) and Dai Qizong (戴起宗).
 
In addition, there are numerous later commentaries to the text. Two notable examples are by Qiu Zhao'ao (仇兆鰲; (dated 1713), who quotes from 25 commentaries, and by [[Liu Yiming]] 劉一明 (dated 1794), who was 11th patriarch of the Quanzhen Longmen 龍門 [[Dragon Gate Taoism|"Dragon Gate" Lineage]].
 
▲==Title==
▲''Wuzhen pian'' combines three Chinese words.
▲*''wu'' [[Wikt:悟|悟]] "realize; awaken; understand; perceive (esp. truth)", viz. Japanese ''[[satori]]''
▲*''zhen'' [[Wikt:真|真]] "true, real, genuine; really, truly, clearly; (Daoist) true/authentic character of human beings"
▲*''pian'' [[Wikt:篇|篇]] "piece of writing; strip of bamboo, sheet of paper; article, essay, chapter"
▲The [[Chinese character]] ''wu'' 悟 "awaken; realize", which is written with the "heart/mind [[radical (Chinese character)|radical]]" 忄and a [[phonetic]] of ''wu'' [[Wikt:吾|吾]] "I; my; we; our", has a literary [[variant Chinese character]] ''wu'' [[Wikt:寤|寤]] "awake; wake up" with the "roof radical" 宀, ''qiang'' 爿 "bed", and this ''wu'' 吾 phonetic. Compare the given name of [[Sun Wukong]] 孙悟空, the central character in [[Journey to the West]], which literally means "Awaken to Emptiness".
 
▲The ambiguity of the ''Wuzhen pian'' title, and by extension the text itself, is illustrated by these English renderings:
▲*Essay on the Understanding of the Truth{{sfn|Davis|Chao|1939}}
▲*Folios on the Apprehension of Perfection{{sfn|Boltz|1987}}
▲*Awakening to Perfection{{sfn|Kohn|1993}}
▲*Understanding Reality{{r|Cleary1997}}{{sfn|Wong|1997}}
▲*Chapters on Awakening to the Real{{r|Crowe2000}}
▲*Chapters on Awakening to Perfection{{sfn|Komjathy|2004}}
▲*The Essay on Realizing the Truth{{r|Bertschinger2004}}
▲*Awakening to Reality{{sfn|Pregadio|2009}}
 
==Translations==
Line 149:
 
==References==
* {{citeCite book |last=Baldrian-Hussein |first=Farzeen |title=The Encyclopedia of Taoism |date=2007 |chapterpublisher=Wuzhen pianRoutledge |editor-last=Fabrizio Pregadio |titlepages=The Encyclopedia of Taoism1081–1084 |publisherchapter=RoutledgeWuzhen |pages=1081–1084pian}}
* {{Cite book |last=Boltz |first=Judith M. |title=A Survey of Taoist Literature, Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries |date=1987 |publisher=University of California}}
}}
* {{citeCite book |last=BoltzCleary |first=Judith M. |date=1987Thomas |title=AUnderstanding SurveyReality: ofA Taoist Literature,Alchemical TenthClassic to Seventeenth Centuries|date=1987 |publisher=University of CaliforniaHawaii Press}}
* {{citeCite thesis |last=Crowe |first=Paul |date=1997 |title=An annotated translation and study of Chapters on Awakening to the Real: A Song Dynasty Classic of Inner Alchemy Attributed to Zhang Boduan |date=1997 |publisher=University of British Columbia |doi=10.14288/1.0099267 |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0099267 |doi=10.14288/1.0099267}}▼
}}
* {{citeCite journal |last1last=Davis |first1first=Tenney L. |last2=Chao |first2=Yün-ts’ung |date=1939 |title=Chang Po-tuan of T'ien-t'ai, his Wu Chen P'ien, Essay on the Understanding of the Truth |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/25130157 |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |volume=73 |issue=5 |pages=97–117 |doi=10.2307/25130157 |jstor=25130157 |pages=97–117 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/25130157}}▼
* {{citeCite book |last=ClearyKohn |first=Thomas |date=1987Livia |title=UnderstandingThe RealityTaoist Experience: AAn TaoistAnthology Alchemical Classic|date=1993 |publisher=State University of HawaiiNew York Press}}
}}
* {{citeCite book |last=Komjathy |first=Louis |date=2004 |title=Daoist Texts in Translation |url=http://www.onmarkproductions.com/taoist-texts-in-translation.pdf |title=Daoist Texts in Translation |date=2004}}▼
▲* {{cite thesis |last=Crowe |first=Paul |date=1997 |title=An annotated translation and study of Chapters on Awakening to the Real: A Song Dynasty Classic of Inner Alchemy Attributed to Zhang Boduan |publisher=University of British Columbia |doi=10.14288/1.0099267 |url=https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses/831/items/1.0099267
* {{citeCite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |dateurl=2009http://www.goldenelixir.com/press/trl_01_wuzhenpian.html |title=Awakening to Reality: The "Regulated Verses" of the'' Wuzhen pian'', a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy |date=2009 |publisher=Golden Elixir Press |isbn=9780984308217 |url=http://www.goldenelixir.com/press/trl_01_wuzhenpian.html}}▼
}}
* {{citeCite book |last=Wong |first=Eva |date=1997 |title=Teachings of the Tao |date=1997 |publisher=Shambhala}}▼
▲* {{cite journal |last1=Davis |first1=Tenney L. |last2=Chao |first2=Yün-ts’ung |date=1939 |title=Chang Po-tuan of T'ien-t'ai, his Wu Chen P'ien, Essay on the Understanding of the Truth |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |volume=73 |issue=5 |doi=10.2307/25130157 |jstor=25130157 |pages=97–117 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/25130157
}}
* {{cite book |last=Kohn |first=Livia |date=1993 |title=The Taoist Experience: An Anthology |publisher=State University of New York Press
}}
▲* {{cite book |last=Komjathy |first=Louis |date=2004 |title=Daoist Texts in Translation |url=http://www.onmarkproductions.com/taoist-texts-in-translation.pdf
}}
▲* {{cite book |last=Pregadio |first=Fabrizio |date=2009 |title=Awakening to Reality: The "Regulated Verses" of the'' Wuzhen pian'', a Taoist Classic of Internal Alchemy |publisher=Golden Elixir Press |isbn=9780984308217 |url=http://www.goldenelixir.com/press/trl_01_wuzhenpian.html
}}
▲* {{cite book |last=Wong |first=Eva |date=1997 |title=Teachings of the Tao |publisher=Shambhala}}
 
'''Footnotes'''
{{reflist|25em|refs=
<ref name="DavisChao1940">Tr. {{citeCite journal |last1last=Davis |first1first=Tenney L. |last2=Chao |first2=Yün-ts’ung |date=1940 |title=Four Hundred Word Chin Tan of Chang Po-tuan |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/25130199 |journal=Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences |volume=73 |issue=13 |pages=371–376 |doi=10.2307/25130199 |jstor=25130199 |pages=371–376 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/25130199 }}</ref>
 
<ref name="Cleary1997">Cleary, 1997.{{Full citation needed|date=May 2021}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Crowe2000">Crowe 2000.{{Full citation needed|date=May 2021}}</ref>
 
<ref name="Bertschinger2004">Bertschinger, Richard. 2004. ''The Essay on Realizing the Truth by Chang Po-tuan''. Tao Booklets, Montacute. An updated version (2009- )can be found [http://mytaoworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Awakening-to-Reality2015reformattedpreview.pdf online].</ref>
}}
 
==Further reading==
* Robinet, Isabelle. 1995.'' Introduction à l’alchimie intérieure taoïste: De l’unité et de la multiplicité. Avec une traduction commentée des Versets de l’éveil à la Vérité''. Paris: Éditions du Cerf. [Contains on pp. 205–54 an annotated translation of the ''Wuzhen pian''.]
 
==External links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_eHsWHnVA 真人宫 Zhen Ren Gong Yew Keng], YouTube
*[http://www.goldenelixir.com/jindan/neidan_and_wzp_1.html Taoist Internal Alchemy and the ''Wuzhen pian'' (Awakening to Reality)], Fabrizio Pregadio
 
[[Category:Song dynasty]]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuzhen_pian"