Chanting to Attain Authenticity 鸣真集
Paul PengChanting to Attain Authenticity
Compiled by Xuanxu in the Yuan Dynasty.
A preface by Zhang Zhiming, a disciple of Xuanxu, dated the first year of the Yuan Emperor Xianzong (1251), shows that this work was written in the early Yuan Dynasty. It is a single volume included in the Taiping Section of The Daozang.
Chanting to Attain Authenticity
The book collects forty-five regulated verses and quatrains, most of which express the leisurely simplicity of The Quanzhen Dao practitioners living in seclusion, and praise the enlightenment of the mind and cultivation of nature. For example:
“All worldly gains and harms have come to an end,
All fleeting glows before my eyes grow distant.
After joy I sit cross-legged on a cushion,
At leisure I stretch my waist on a simple bench.”
It warns people to see through fame, wealth and splendor, and cut off worldly thoughts. It also proclaims the unity of Chan and Dao, stating:
“Chan and Dao are non‑action; Dao is Chan,
Dao and Chan are not two, neither withered nor partial.”
Master Xuanxu was a Quanzhen Taoist during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, serving at Longxing Temple in Fenyin, Shanxi.
