The Principles of the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts in Taoism
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During the Jin and Yuan dynasties, when foreign ethnic groups invaded the Central Plains, Chinese culture was on the verge of being severed. At this critical juncture, Taoist Neidan masters, in order to preserve the sacred lineage of Chinese civilization, integrated the essence of traditional culture and passed it down secretly as incantations in the Taoist cultivation process. Taoist sects with Neidan studies as the core spread in the north and quickly swept across to the south. Under the influence of Neidan techniques, the inherent cultivation methods of southern Taoism underwent significant changes, giving rise to many new Taoist sects. The Taoist arts of many new sects combined internal cultivation with the original spells. Among these Taoist arts, the most distinctive one is the Thunder Arts of Taoism.
As early as the Southern Song Dynasty, Bai Yuchan, the fifth patriarch of the Southern School, combined the cultivation of Neidan with the application of the Thunder Arts. He emphasized the application of the Thunder Arts on the basis of internal cultivation to summon the Thunder Gods. The Thunder Gods were originally a primitive folk belief and were later absorbed and transformed by Taoism. There are various Gods of the Thunder Department in Taoism, and these Thunder Gods are the belief basis for the emergence of many Thunder Arts Taoist sects. The principal God of the Gods of the Thunder Department is the "Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound". The Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound wields the Five Thunders and holds the power of life and death, specifically punishing the wicked.
A story was once recorded in a notebook novel: There was a scholar named Zhou Ju in the Wu region. Once, Zhou Ju was returning to his hometown from Hangzhou. The public security was rather poor at that time, and robbers were running rampant everywhere. On his way, Zhou Ju encountered a man in feathered robes wearing a star crown. The man in feathered robes said to Zhou Ju, "You will be killed by robbers tomorrow. Reciting the Ten-Character Sutra can save you from this disaster!" Zhou Ju was immediately terrified upon hearing this and quickly asked what the Ten-Character Sutra was. The man in feathered robes said that the Ten-Character Sutra was "Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound". The next day, Zhou Ju indeed encountered robbers. He immediately took to his heels, and the robbers chased after him relentlessly. As they were getting closer and closer, Zhou Ju remembered the words of the man in feathered robes and immediately recited "Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound" aloud. Then, thunder roared on a clear day, and the robbers were so startled that they scattered and fled in all directions. Thus, Zhou Ju was saved from this disaster. This Zhou Ju was very lucky. Perhaps it was because he usually did good deeds and accumulated virtue that he was rescued by the Thunder Gods in this critical moment.
Saving the good and punishing the evil are two sides of the same coin of the Thunder Arts. The Tianxin Thunder Arts of Taoism mainly practiced the Hunyuan Arts in the later period, which mainly consisted of two parts. One part came from the Taoist scripture "The Scripture of Salvation". "The Scripture of Salvation" is the first scripture in the Taoist Canon. From the name of the scripture, one can see the theme of this scripture. The Tianxin Thunder Arts took "The Scripture of Salvation" as its theoretical source, mainly reflecting that the purpose of its Taoist arts was to save people. The other part of the content came from "The Wonderful Way of the Hunyuan Six Heavens and One Qi as One Wishes Great Art". The Hunyuan Arts embodied the specific means of the Tianxin Orthodox Arts to save and redeem people.
Simply put, this is still the general principle of Taoist spells - Qi communicating with the Heavenly Truth. Through refining Qi and circulating Qi, one can have a sympathetic response with the Thunder Gods. However, this Qi is the primordial Qi, not the ordinary postnatal breathing Qi. Therefore, to make the spells effective, one still needs to cultivate one's own primordial Qi. This is what the Taoist sect calls "refining essence into Qi". Obviously, this cultivation method has something in common with Taoist Neidan techniques.
The principles of other Taoist Thunder Arts sects are mostly similar to those of the Tianxin Thunder Arts. The Shenxiao School imparts the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts. It is said that this method can command ghosts and gods, bring about thunderstorms, and eliminate disasters and avoid harm. The theoretical basis of the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts is still the interaction between heaven and man and the unity of the internal and the external. Taoist priests who have achieved success in cultivation can have a sympathetic response between their spirit and the seasons, yin and yang, and the five elements. Thus, they can summon the Five Thunders to remove filth and evil.
In the final analysis, the Thunder Arts of Taoism are generated through the internal cultivation of Taoist priests to accumulate primordial Qi, and then through the sympathetic response between their own primordial Qi and the Thunder Gods. In the notebook novels of the Qing Dynasty, stories of Zhang Tianshi using the Five Thunder Arts to strike down demons were common. The actual effects of the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts are mostly unknown.
As early as the Southern Song Dynasty, Bai Yuchan, the fifth patriarch of the Southern School, combined the cultivation of Neidan with the application of the Thunder Arts. He emphasized the application of the Thunder Arts on the basis of internal cultivation to summon the Thunder Gods. The Thunder Gods were originally a primitive folk belief and were later absorbed and transformed by Taoism. There are various Gods of the Thunder Department in Taoism, and these Thunder Gods are the belief basis for the emergence of many Thunder Arts Taoist sects. The principal God of the Gods of the Thunder Department is the "Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound". The Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound wields the Five Thunders and holds the power of life and death, specifically punishing the wicked.
A story was once recorded in a notebook novel: There was a scholar named Zhou Ju in the Wu region. Once, Zhou Ju was returning to his hometown from Hangzhou. The public security was rather poor at that time, and robbers were running rampant everywhere. On his way, Zhou Ju encountered a man in feathered robes wearing a star crown. The man in feathered robes said to Zhou Ju, "You will be killed by robbers tomorrow. Reciting the Ten-Character Sutra can save you from this disaster!" Zhou Ju was immediately terrified upon hearing this and quickly asked what the Ten-Character Sutra was. The man in feathered robes said that the Ten-Character Sutra was "Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound". The next day, Zhou Ju indeed encountered robbers. He immediately took to his heels, and the robbers chased after him relentlessly. As they were getting closer and closer, Zhou Ju remembered the words of the man in feathered robes and immediately recited "Universal Transformation Heavenly Venerable of the Nine Heavens Responding to the Primal and the Thunder Sound" aloud. Then, thunder roared on a clear day, and the robbers were so startled that they scattered and fled in all directions. Thus, Zhou Ju was saved from this disaster. This Zhou Ju was very lucky. Perhaps it was because he usually did good deeds and accumulated virtue that he was rescued by the Thunder Gods in this critical moment.
Saving the good and punishing the evil are two sides of the same coin of the Thunder Arts. The Tianxin Thunder Arts of Taoism mainly practiced the Hunyuan Arts in the later period, which mainly consisted of two parts. One part came from the Taoist scripture "The Scripture of Salvation". "The Scripture of Salvation" is the first scripture in the Taoist Canon. From the name of the scripture, one can see the theme of this scripture. The Tianxin Thunder Arts took "The Scripture of Salvation" as its theoretical source, mainly reflecting that the purpose of its Taoist arts was to save people. The other part of the content came from "The Wonderful Way of the Hunyuan Six Heavens and One Qi as One Wishes Great Art". The Hunyuan Arts embodied the specific means of the Tianxin Orthodox Arts to save and redeem people.
Simply put, this is still the general principle of Taoist spells - Qi communicating with the Heavenly Truth. Through refining Qi and circulating Qi, one can have a sympathetic response with the Thunder Gods. However, this Qi is the primordial Qi, not the ordinary postnatal breathing Qi. Therefore, to make the spells effective, one still needs to cultivate one's own primordial Qi. This is what the Taoist sect calls "refining essence into Qi". Obviously, this cultivation method has something in common with Taoist Neidan techniques.
The principles of other Taoist Thunder Arts sects are mostly similar to those of the Tianxin Thunder Arts. The Shenxiao School imparts the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts. It is said that this method can command ghosts and gods, bring about thunderstorms, and eliminate disasters and avoid harm. The theoretical basis of the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts is still the interaction between heaven and man and the unity of the internal and the external. Taoist priests who have achieved success in cultivation can have a sympathetic response between their spirit and the seasons, yin and yang, and the five elements. Thus, they can summon the Five Thunders to remove filth and evil.
In the final analysis, the Thunder Arts of Taoism are generated through the internal cultivation of Taoist priests to accumulate primordial Qi, and then through the sympathetic response between their own primordial Qi and the Thunder Gods. In the notebook novels of the Qing Dynasty, stories of Zhang Tianshi using the Five Thunder Arts to strike down demons were common. The actual effects of the Orthodox Five Thunder Arts are mostly unknown.
