Ten Transformations of the Pear 重阳分梨十化集

Compiled by Wang Zhe in the Jin Dynasty, it consists of two volumes and is included in the Taiping Section of The Daozang.

This book collects more than eighty poems and ci-poems of poetic exchanges between Wang Zhe and Ma Yu. At the beginning of the book is a preface written by Ma Dabian, a Jinshi of Ninghai Prefecture, in the third year of the Dading reign (1183). It records that when Wang Chongyang first sought to convert Ma Danyang to the Dao, he urged Ma to abandon his family and study the Dao, but Ma and his wife were reluctant to follow him easily. Thus, Wang Chongyang asked for a pear every ten days, divided it and sent it to Ma Yu and his wife, composing a poem or ci-poem each time to eulogize and conceal his profound teachings, and Ma Danyang responded with matching verses to each one. This poetic exchange lasted for a hundred days, with ten pear distributions and ten spiritual transformations. Through this, Ma Yu came to understand the numbers of yin and yang, odd and even in heaven and earth, and comprehend the principles of life, nature, fortune, misfortune, life and death. Consequently, he cast off worldly burdens, changed his secular clothes, burned a vow of allegiance, and he and his wife both became disciples of Wang Chongyang. These poetic exchanges were later compiled into this book by their disciples. The original text was included in Chongyang Jiaohua Ji (Anthology of the Double Ninth's Enlightenment), and the version in The Daozang is now published as a separate volume.

Ten Transformations of the Pear

Wang Chongyang's enlightenment of Ma Yu centered on the impermanence of the physical body as a temporary combination of elements and the peril of the cycle of reincarnation. He urged Ma to cut off the bonds of wife and children, break free from the cage of family, leave his hometown to beg for food, renounce wine, sex, wealth and anger, harmonize spirit and qi, and reflect inward on his nature and mind, in pursuit of the joy of immortality. The Daoist method he imparted was the Internal Alchemy practice of dual cultivation of life and nature. Some poems and ci-poems in this book also appear in other works such as Chongyang Quanzhen Ji (Anthology of the Double Ninth's Complete Perfection), Jianwu Ji (Anthology of Gradual Enlightenment) and Shenguang Can (Brilliance of Divine Light).