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Huantingjing ( Chinese 黄庭 经 , “Canon of the Yellow Yard”) is a classic treatise on internal alchemy and visualization of spirits ( tsunxiang ). This treatise was considered one of the main works in the Shangqing school.
The text is written in verses of seven characters per line. There is debate about the time of its origin, the canon goes back to the oral tradition and to the Han dynasty . The presence of the text in the periods of Wei and Jin - ( 220 - 439 ) is confirmed.
The Shangqing school tradition believes that the founder of the school, Wei Huaqun, gained this text from immortal celestials.
Content
Contents
The treatise consists of 36 parts, is divided into two parts - the internal canon 《黄庭 内景 玉 经》 and the external canon 《黄庭 外景 玉 经》; sometimes emit the middle canon 《黄庭 中景 玉 经》.
The treatise explains that yellow is the color of the center. The yard is the middle of the four sides. The Yellow Yard is understood as the union of the external (sky, person, earth) and the internal (brain, heart, spleen). External corresponds to the sun, moon, stars, clouds, day, dawn. Internal correspond to blood, tissues, muscles, bones, internal organs. The treatise discusses in detail the position of Chinese medicine on the "five solid and six hollow" organs and the three "yellow yards" - the Danes. The upper dantian is located in the brain, the middle dantian is in the heart, the lower dantian is in the spleen.
Inner Canon
The text of the inner canon is associated with a discussion of ways to achieve immortality and the related mental work of internal organs. The human body is divided into three parts - upper, middle, lower. Eight spirits (deities) are in charge of each of them, and in total 24 spirits, which are described in detail, are in charge of the whole body, instructions are given on how to call them and how to work with them, harmonizing internal energy. If a person takes proper care of his vital qi energy, he can avoid illness and live forever.
This section explains the energy centers of man - the three gunas of the Yellow Yard, the three Dan Tan (cinnabar fields), the acupuncture points and the relationship between them.
External Canon
The external canon (waijin) consists of three parts. Further explanations are given about the spirits that inhabit the human body, and how to contact them. It explains meditation, the mechanism of breathing, swallowing saliva, the importance of preserving the essence of jing (the energy of the glands of internal secretion) in daily practice. It speaks of the insignificance of worldly values (glory and wealth) and the method of cultivation.
Links
- Canon text (in Chinese)
- Canon text (in Chinese) (unavailable link from 05/23/2013 [2258 days] - history , copy )
- Huangjing - Wang Xizhi Calligraphy
- Bibliography (unavailable link from 05/23/2013 [2258 days] - history , copy )
- Huangjing (in English)
- Mo Wendan. A brief history of qigong development (inaccessible link from 05/23/2013 [2258 days] - history , copy )
European Translations
- Carré, Patrik. 1999. Le Livre de la Cour Jaune: Classique taoïste des IVe-Ve siècles. Paris: Éditions du Seuil. [Full translation of Nei and Wai versions, with commentaries.]
- Kohn, Livia. 1993. "The Gods Within." In The Taoist Experience: An Anthology, 181-88. Albany: State University of New York Press. [Partial translation of Wai version, with commentaries.]
- Kroll, Paul W. 1996. "Body Gods and Inner Vision: The Scripture of the Yellow Court." In Donald S. Lopez, ed., Religions of China in Practice, 149-55. Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Partial translation of Nei version - as beautiful as the Huangting jing.]
- Huang, Jane. 1992. The Primordial Breath: An Ancient Chinese Way of Prolonging Life through Breath Control, 2: 221-54. Torrance (Ca.): Original Books. [Pp. 221-54, full translation of Nei and Wai versions.]
- Saso, Michael R. 1995. The Gold Pavilion: Taoist Ways to Peace, Healing, and Long Life. Boston: Charles E. Tuttle Co. [Full translation of Wai version.]
Learning
- Homann, Rolf. 1971. Die wichtigsen Koerpergottheiten im Huang-t'ing-ching. Göppingen: Alfred Kümmerle.
- Robinet, Isabelle. 1993. Taoist Meditation: The Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity. Translated by Julian F. Pas and Norman J. Girardot. Albany: State University of New York Press. Originally published as Méditation taoïste (Paris: Dervy Livres, 1979). [Pp. 55-96 on the Huangting jing.]
- Saso, Michael R. 1974. "On the Meditative Use of the Yellow Court Canon." Journal of Chinese Religions 9: 1-20.
- Saso, Michael R. 1974. "The Yellow Court Canon." Journal of the China Society 9: 1-25.
- Schipper, Kristofer, ed. 1975. Concordance du Houang-t'ing King: Nei-king et Wai-king. Paris: École Française d'Extrême-Orient.
- Schipper, Kristofer. 1978. "The Taoist Body." History of Religions 17: 355-81. [Pp. 100-12.]