Chiyang Daoren, Eastern Taoism
The Taoist Canon (Daozang) contains more than a thousand scriptures, and among them are five that are called the core of Taoist scholarly thought. These five are the so-called “Five Great Scriptures”: the Tao Te Ching, the Hidden Talisman, the True Classic of Southern Florescence, the Scripture of the Yellow Court, and the True Classic of Wenshi.
Let us begin with the Tao Te Ching, written by Laozi in the Warring States period. Legend has it that he rode a black ox to Hangu Pass, left behind his work, the Tao Te Ching, and then vanished without a trace, leaving only this priceless “king of ten thousand scriptures.”
From ancient times to the present, those who have truly understood this scripture can be counted on one hand, because even now no one can say precisely what meaning it contains. Speaking for myself, I read it differently at different times and in different moods. Moreover, the Tao Te Ching that has come down to us today may well have been altered.
The full title of the Hidden Talisman is the Yellow Emperor's Classic of the Hidden Talisman (Yinfu Jing). Who wrote it is still disputed; most likely it is the work of the Yellow Emperor. Its text is fairly short, and I dare not presume to claim its exact meaning. One line that made a deep impression on me is: “The Way of what is so of itself is still; therefore heaven, earth, and the myriad things are born. The Way of heaven and earth permeates gradually; therefore yin and yang prevail in turn.”
The True Classic of Southern Florescence was written by Zhuangzi. I was deeply drawn in as soon as I read its first chapter, the familiar “Free and Easy Wandering”: “In the Northern Darkness there is a fish, whose name is Kun…” My personal guess is that the book mainly sets out Zhuangzi’s ideas of “the unity of heaven and humanity,” “clarity and stillness, and non-action,” and “free and easy wandering.”
The Scripture of the Yellow Court (Huangting Jing) is traditionally said to have been written by Wei Huacun of the Western Jin dynasty. Wei Huacun was a female Taoist who went to the Southern Peak, Mount Heng, in her forties for cultivating the Tao, and finally ascended, becoming an immortal, leaving behind only the Scripture of the Inner View of the Yellow Court. She was later given the title “Lady of the Southern Peak.” Practitioners of inner alchemy (neidan) revere this scripture as a principal classic of inner-alchemical cultivation.
The author of the True Classic of Wenshi (Guanyinzi) was Guanyinzi, a contemporary of Laozi who is said to have been his disciple, later known as Perfected Wenshi. The Tao spoken of in this scripture is very similar to Laozi’s Tao; its core ideas are “the Tao follows what is so of itself” and “going along with what is so of itself”!
Of the “Five Great Scriptures,” it is the Tao Te Ching that Taoism reveres most. It is the core classic of Taoist thought and required study for every Taoist!