Northern Journeys - Recorded Sayings
Narrated by Yin Zhiping, a patriarch of The Quanzhen Dao in the late Jin and early Yuan Dynasty, and compiled by his disciple Duan Zhijian.
It consists of four scrolls and is included in The Zhengyi Section of The Daozang.
Northern Journeys - Recorded Sayings
In the late Jin and early Yuan Dynasty, Yin Zhiping traveled north from Shandong to the imperial capital, Jianzhou (present-day Chaoyang in Liaoning Province), Yizhou (present-day Yixian in Liaoning Province) and other places. This book records his discourses on the Dao delivered during this northern journey. The first two scrolls separately document Yin Zhiping’s discussions on metaphysics and the Dao with Taoist practitioners at various Taoist palaces and temples across different regions, as well as his remarks on the rise and fall of human affairs and matters of good and evil. The latter two scrolls are exclusively devoted to recording the answers and corrections given by Yin Zhiping to the questions raised by Guo Zhiquan and other Taoist practitioners when Guo Zhiquan expounded on the Dao De Jing at the Tongxian Guan in Yizhou.
Yin Zhiping was a disciple of Qiu Chuji, and he claimed that after fifty years of studying under his master, he had only learned one character: "Sincerity". He held that the Dao is inherently natural, with purity and tranquility as the highest ideal and sincere merit and sincere conduct as the paramount pursuit; those who cultivate the true self must first act with conscious effort, and only then can they attain the state of non-action in alignment with the Dao. He also elaborated in detail on the teachings of the various masters of the Quanzhen Dao, stating: "Master Danyang (Ma Yu) taught with non-action as the core; the True Person Changsheng (Liu Chuxuan) balanced non-action and conscious effort equally; as for Master Changchun (Qiu Chuji), nine parts of his teachings lay in conscious effort, and though non-action accounted for the remaining one part, it was preserved yet not employed." The school of Qiu Chuji attached particular importance to accumulating merit and virtue, practicing asceticism to save the world, and upholding the essence of non-action while acting with conscious effort in cultivation practice, and this book expounds on this doctrine in great detail.
Featured Products
Handpicked recommendations just for you
