Odes on the True Essence of Thunder Rites 明真破妄章颂

Composed by Zhang Jixian, the 30th Celestial Master of the Northern Song Dynasty.

One scroll, included in the Hymn category of the Dongshen Section of The Daozang.

Based on Laozi’s doctrine that the Dao generates heaven, earth and humanity, this book expounds the tenets of Taoist thunder arts through seven-character jueju poems.

Odes on the True Essence of Thunder Rites

It holds that the Three Treasures of the human body (the essence of primordial essence, primordial qi and spirit) are all transformed from the single primordial qi, sharing the same origin with the thunder deities of heaven. A cultivator who unites their body with the celestial immortals in the single primordial qi and aligns their mind with the divine can activate the "thunder mechanism", stir up the primordial spirit, summon millions of thunder soldiers, and control sunshine and rain at will. It also maintains that all dharmas return to the Dao, dharma is the mind, and there is no dharma outside the mind; a cultivator who masters their own spirit and attains mental tranquility and spiritual stability can communicate with heaven and embody the Dao.

Therefore, the author opposes such alchemical practices as meditating rigidly on the elixir field and the niwan palace, as well as the arts of talismans, diagrams, incantations and formulas. He also repudiates the distinction between the Taoist methods of the Zhengyi Dao and the Qingwei Sect.