Page 621 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

JINLIAN ZHENGZONG JI 579

Chuyi, *Hao Datong, and *Sun Bu' er. Although Quanzhen pays homage to all
major figures in Taoist history and hagiography, these four immortals and ten
historical masters are its quintessential references. Most if not all Quanzhen
monasteries under the Yuan had shrines devoted to the Five Patriarchs and
the Seven Real Men. From the Ming onward, however, individual shrines to
Ui Dongbin and Qiu Chuji were favored.
This creation and authoritative definition of its own ancestry are character-
istic of mid-thirteenth-century institutionalized Quanzhen. Earlier accounts
do not dwell much on the Seven Real Men but rather insist on the inner core
of Wang Zhe's four favorite disciples-Ma, Tan, Liu, and Qiu. The list given in
the Jinlian zhengzongji, moreover, has variants in some contemporary sources,
in which Sun, the only woman in the group, is excluded, Wang Zhe is one of
the Seven Real Men, and Laozi becomes the first of the Five Patriarchs (see
table 17).
Each short biography provides a rather factual account insisting on the
crucial moments of a master's life (especially the conversion), and is followed
by an encomium. This format was obviously a popular one. One century later,
in 1327, another similar work was compiled, the Jinlian zhengzong xianyuan
xiangzhuan ~JiiE*{llJ?m,f~1t (Illustrated Biographies of the Immortal
Spring of the Correct Lineage of the Golden Lotus; CT 174), whose edition in
the Taoist Canon includes portraits. Another collective biography of the Seven
Real Men was compiled before 1237 and repeatedly expanded in later times. A
1417 edition of this work, entitled Qizhen xianzhuan -t JUllJ f$ (Biographies
of the Seven Real Men), is housed at the Taiwan Normal University Library.
This literature paved the way for several Ming and Qing novels telling the
story of this cohesive group of popular ascetics. As can be seen in the Quanzhen
recorded sayings (*yulu), the exemplary lives of the Quanzhen patriarchs were
frequently referred to in public teachings, and their emulation was considered
the best practice for adepts. From this viewpoint, the deeds of the Seven Real
Men appear as a catalogue of the various modes of Quanzhen life; the narrative
highlights their different approaches (Wang Chuyi the ritualist, Liu Chuxuan
the philosopher, Hao Datong the diviner, and so forth) and, simultaneously,
their common achievement.
Vincent GOOSSAERT

m Chen Guofu 1963, 246; Qing Xitai 1994, 2: 196-97
~ Quanzhen; HAGIOGRAPHY