Sayings of the White Adept 海琼白真人语录
Paul PengSayings of the White Adept
Recounted by Bai Yuchan, a patriarch of the Internal Alchemy (Neidan) school during the Song Dynasty, and compiled by his disciples including Peng Si.
The book was completed in the Xinhai year of the Chunyou reign (1251 CE).
Consisting of four scrolls, it is included in the Zhengyi Section within the Taoist Canon (The Daozang). In the tenth year of the Jiading reign of the Southern Song Dynasty (1217 CE), Bai Yuchan traveled to various places in the Jiangnan region, such as Suzhou, Changzhou, Lushan Mountain, Wuyi Mountain, and Quanzhou. The content of this book consists of his recorded teachings to disciples, as well as related poems and essays from that period.
Sayings of the White Adept
Volume 1, compiled by disciple Xie Xiandao, records the dialogues and discussions on Taoist doctrines between Bai Yuchan and his disciples including Peng Si and Liu Yuanchang, covering topics such as cultivation theories, methods, ritual offerings (jiao yi), mantras, and divination. At the end of the volume, there is an appended memorial to the deity and more than forty poems dedicated to friends.
Volume 2, titled Discourses from the Crane Forest, was compiled by disciples including Lin Boqian. It describes the Huanglu Zhai (Yellow Register Retreat Ceremony) held by Bai Yuchan for Peng Si’s father, and records discussions between Bai Yuchan, Peng Si, and Lin Boqian on retreat rituals and religious education.
The first half of Volume 3 collects four "Ascending the Hall Discourses", recorded by disciples such as Ye Guxi, which respectively recount Bai Yuchan’s sermons in Wuyi, Changzhou, Lushan Mountain, Suzhou, and other places. The second half includes four poems and prose works, noted as recorded by disciple Zhao Shoufu, discussing the life and nature cultivation methods of Internal Alchemy and eulogizing Xilin Chan Temple.
Volume 4, compiled by Peng Si, collects poems and essays written by Bai Yuchan and his master Chen Nan, as well as several letters exchanged between Bai Yuchan and Peng Si. Most of these works also elaborate on Internal Alchemy.
