History of Zhang Sanfeng
Probably no figure in ancient Daoist lore is as enigmatic and difficult to trace as Zhang Sanfeng. No historical data can prove the assertion that he created what has become popularly known as Taijiquan, or that he ever wrote anything concerning Daoism or Taijiquan. However, there are figures in Chinese history during the Song dynasty matching some of the criteria of this popular immortal, but nothing so substantial and evident enough to actually pinpoint him. Despite the lack of historical evidence of his person, there still exists an abundance of Daoist texts attributed to him, and in consideration of the numerous written legends about this Daoist immortal, there is also no reason to not affirm him as Daoist lore has presented him. In fact, he represents in many ways the Daoist ideal of the elusive rogue, hermit, cloud wandering immortal envisioned in so much of Chinese literature and folklore.
The Creation of Taijiquan
Legend has it that Zhang’s first realization of Taijiquan, came after seeing a bird and snake fighting. The story goes that Zhang was meditating in his hut on Wudang Mountain when he heard a magpie attacking a snake. He watched intently as the snake yielded and counterattacked all the movements of the bird. If the magpie tried to seize the tail of the snake, the snake struck back with its head. If its head was attacked, the snake countered with its tail. Likewise, when the center of the snake’s body was attacked, both its head and tail responded. Zhang must have thought this was really clever and so believed that instead of utilizing the hard and unyielding movements in Shaolin Kung Fu (少 林 功 夫), the martial art of Taijiquan should focus on the yielding, soft, and pliable aspects of the Snake style; the light, nimble, and changeable movements of Dragon; the intently focused, agile, and powerful traits of Tiger; the exacting, calm, and expansive energy of the Crane; and to be as light, nimble, and concealed as the Leopard.
In addition to the story of Zhang watching the bird and snake leading to his invention of Taijiquan, another story tells of another discovery he made while dwelling in his famous meditation hut on Wudang Mountain (無 當 山, Wu Dang Shan). This story relates that late one evening he went outside to practice his Taijiquan. When he began doing the movements of Step Back and Chase the Monkey Away repeatedly, he found that when he kept his buttocks opened and relaxed, his qi would rise up his spine and into his brain. 1 So he kept practicing this method night after night until he finally achieved immortality. It is this story that elevated Taijiquan from being just a method for health and self-defense into a working method of internal alchemy.
From the story of Zhang practicing the movements of Step Back and Chase the Monkey Away, it is obvious the Eight Operations 2 were originally practiced as separate movements and gestures, like katas in karate, and the repetition of each individual movement were performed in accordance to the Five Activities. This is important because it lends itself to the idea that Taijiquan as a style of connected movements was created post Zhang’s era, and possibly not until the time of Wang Zongyue (mid or late 1600s).
How Zhang actually created Taijiquan, beyond the insights he experienced while watching the bird and snake, is unclear. But it is thought he had known or learned Shaolin Kung Fu earlier in his life, specifically the Five Animal exercises of the Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Leopard, and Crane. It is surmised that he took the principles of the Dragon and Snake forms (which is highly probable because many of the names of Taijiquan postures coincide with Shaolin Kung Fu posture names) and thus added the Book of Changes (易 經, Yi Jing) theories on yin and yang (陰 陽) and Daoist breathing techniques of Leading and Guiding the Breath (導 引, Dao Yin). In essence, he created a physical form of expression of Daoist philosophy, or Daoist philosophy in motion, or possibly better said he created moving internal alchemy.
Over many years of studying the teachings attributed to Zhang Sanfeng, it has become vividly clear that the actual historical evidence of this Daoist immortal is for the most part unimportant, as it is the myths of Zhang that are so inspiring to all cultivating Daoists. Hence, to accept his existence is not nearly as important as accepting and applying the teachings attributed to him.
Legends of Zhang Sanfeng
Two versions tell of when and where Zhang Sanfeng was born. The first says that he was born in Liaoning province (northeastern China) in 1247 C.E., and the second says that he was born in the same year, but within the region of Dragon-Tiger Mountain (龍 虎 山, Long Hu Shan) in Jiangxi province (southeastern China). It is said he mounted a dragon and ascended into an immortal paradise in the year 1417, living to the venerable age of 170. Again, some records say he passed away in 1471 on Wudang Mountain and others claim it was on Dragon-Tiger Mountain. The accounts of Zhang’s birthplace, his dwellings, and death appear to be altered depending on whether the sources tend more towards the Wudang Mountain martial art lineages or those of the Dragon-Tiger Mountain Daoist internal alchemy lineages. The martial art contingent seems to focus a great deal on his spending most of his life in northern China and on Wudang Mountain, whereas the internal alchemists seem to accentuate his life mostly in southern China, especially the two areas of Ge Hong and Dragon-Tiger Mountains. Truthfully, little information substantiates either account.
His birth name reportedly was Quan Yi, and he used the aliases of Jun Shi, Jun Bao, and Yu Xuzi during the first part of his life, and later used the other sobriquets of Qing Xu, Zhang Tong, Xuan Xuan, Xuan Hua, and Zhang Sanfeng. This elusive immortal called “Three Peaks,” a name Zhang is said to have chosen for himself while cultivating on Ge Hong Mountain (葛 洪 山) 3 or as other accounts tell, it was on Southern End Mountain (終南山, Zhong Nan Shan) or on Precious Chicken Mountain (寶 雞 山, Bao Ji Shan), where he saw three high peaks and so thought it a fitting name for himself.
According to legend, Zhang’s life spanned three dynasties, beginning near the end of the Song, extending through the entire Yuan, and ending in the early Ming. Probably the best research done on the existence and history of Zhang Sanfeng can be found in Anna Seidel’s chapter “A Taoist Immortal of the Ming Dynasty: Chang San-feng” in Self and Society in Ming Thought (W. T. Barry, editor, Columbia University Press, 1970).
In this work, Seidel presents a great deal of information on the possible existence of a Daoist priest named Chang (under several assumed names) during the Ming dynasty, but could not prove conclusively if a figure named Chang San-feng (Zhang Sanfeng) actually invented Taijiquan or wrote any discourses on Daoism. Despite the efforts made here to render a reasonable history of Zhang, please refer to Anna Seidel’s material, as it is a far more authoritative work.
Legendary history claims that Zhang in his early years was a county magistrate in the northeastern province of Liaoning, but quit his position in mid-life and left his family to become a Daoist priest. Zhang Sanfeng claimed to have been initiated as a Daoist priest by Xuan Du (玄 獨), but this name could also simply mean a “mysterious stranger” or “hermit,” and for whatever reason Zhang chose not to reveal his identity or background. In any event, Xuan Du transmitted the meanings of The Treatise on Understanding Reality (悟 眞 篇, Wu Zhen Pian) by Zhang Boduan (張 伯 端, 987–1082 C.E.). Therefore, in being given the Daoist surname of Zhang, he would have to have been initiated into either the Southern Complete Reality Sect (全 真 南 派, Quan Zhen Pai) attributed to Liu Haichan (劉 海 禪), or, and most likely, the Azure Yang Sect (紫 陽 派, Zi Yang Pai) founded by Liu’s disciple Zhang Boduan.
It is also noted that Zhang Sanfeng had a close but short relationship with the Northern Quan Zhen Sect at White Cloud Monastery (白 雲 觀, Bai Yun Guan) in Beijing, as it is recorded he befriended three master monks there. Zhang Sanfeng was later considered a patron immortal of White Cloud Monastery and so a statue and shrine was erected in his honor.
In 1325, when Zhang was 78 years old, it is said he met a Daoist hermit by the name of Fire Dragon Immortal (火 龍 仙, Huo Long Xian) on Ge Hong Mountain who taught him the internal alchemy methods for becoming an immortal and/or actually gave him the formula for producing the pill of immortality, as well as teaching him acupuncture. It was at this time he changed his name to Xuan Hua. The Fire Dragon Immortal claimed to be a disciple of Wang Zhe (王 嚞), founder of the Northern Sect of Quan Zhen, and this may have been the reason for his connection with the priests at White Cloud Monastery in Beijing. But after practicing for four years, the Fire Dragon Immortal told Zhang he should leave and go find another auspicious and sacred place to practice, as Ge Hong Mountain would not be the place he would attain his immortality. This is when Zhang entered the Wudang Mountains and decided this was the appropriate place to forge his immortality, and he did so for nine years and accomplished his goal.
After these nine years on Wudang Mountain, Zhang undertook the old tradition of what Daoists call “cloud wandering,” 4 traveling throughout the sacred mountains of China, such as Hua Shan (華 山) in Shaanxi province and Heng Shan (恆 山) in Hunan province. In 1385, because the emperor Tai Zu (太 祖) ordered him to take an official post, he escaped and went into hermitage in the mountain regions of Yunnan province until 1399 (the year when Hui Zong [惠 宗] became emperor and the former emperor Tai Zu’s command would have been rendered invalid). It was this year that he reportedly reappeared in his birthplace on Dragon-Tiger Mountain and lived out his years until his immortal ascension in 1417.
During the years prior to 1399, Zhang traveled a great deal, and spent most of his time helping others, especially farmers. He would perform healings, collect medicines for them, and give them instructions on the Dao. The tales of his benevolence are numerous, and it was all these deeds that endeared him to the populace and eventually gained him the notice of emperors.
Zhang had been a cloud wanderer for most of his life and his whereabouts were often uncertain. Other cloud wandering Daoists who happened upon him said he was a true “hermit immortal” (隱 仙, yin xian), and many claimed to have witnessed his spiritual skill of performing physical flight, and never leaving footprints no matter where he walked. Be it in the hot summer or the coldest of winter he would only wear one garment and sandals. When walking about areas with snow, it would all melt beneath his feet, and at times he would simply sleep in the snow, all evidence of his cultivated qi. Likewise, when he climbed mountains it was as if he flew up the inclines with great agility, lightness, and nimbleness, never showing signs of exhaustion or exertion. Disciples commented that when he felt the need, he could flap the sleeves of his robe and simply disappear. When Zhang ate, he consumed large quantities of food, but then sometimes would only eat every few days, and other times forego eating altogether for a couple months at a time. His mannerisms were very casual and free from restraint, and he had the temperament and presence of an immortal.
Nothing in the purported historical accounts about Zhang Sanfeng are ever mediocre, even his supposed death in 1303. The story runs that Zhang passed away while staying at Golden Terrace Monastery (金 臺 寺, Jin Tai Si) in western Shensi. He had announced his pending departure and gave his followers final instructions. A few days passed in preparation of the funeral and when the day arrived to place him in his grave, and his casket was about to be lowered into the ground, they all heard a knocking coming from within the casket. Upon opening it they found a smiling Zhang who had come back to life.
In all the legends about Zhang Sanfeng’s description, they all relate that he was very tall, some reports say he was seven feet tall, and was well built with the resemblance of a tortoise and had a crane-shaped back, very long ears, and round, piercing eyes. His beard was black, long, very thick, and bristly. Zhang in Chinese woodblock prints is normally depicted wearing a Daoist cassock with a wide palm-bark rain cape, a wide brimmed bamboo hat, straw sandals, and carrying his sword and gourd. Other images show him in a seated meditation posture, with one such statue erected in his honor at Wudang Mountain. In other cases he is shown simply standing holding only a flywhisk.
Teachings of Zhang Sanfeng
Zhang maintained five practices of cultivation:
1) Performing sword movements in moonlight because this would “enliven the spirit” (增 神, zeng shen).
2) Practicing Taijiquan in the dark of night because it “increased essence” (益 精, yi jing).
3) Climbing a mountain on windy nights because it “broadened qi” (長 氣, zhang qi).
4) Studying and reading scriptures on rainy nights because it “illuminated the mind” (明 心, ming xin).
5) Sitting in meditation at midnight because it would bring “clarity to one’s nature” (見 性, jian xing).
These five practices Zhang said were the essence of his Daoist cultivation.
The perspective in the Ming dynasty about the three religions of China (Buddhism, Daoism, and Confucianism) was that they all came from the same origin and Zhang Sanfeng basically shared this same general view as his contemporaries. Zhang maintained that these three religions had the same intent; i.e., to cultivate one’s original nature and to bring benefit and order to the world. Hence, whether one spoke of Lao Zi, Buddha, or Confucius, the basic premise was the same and, therefore, Buddhism and Confucianism could be classified as aspects of Daoist teaching. In the Ming dynasty, as well as in the previous Song dynasty, Daoists were known to study aspects of Buddhism and Confucianism, and vice versa. In Zhang Sanfeng’s Essays on the Essentials of the Great Dao, he explains,
Confucians try to practice the Dao of society to bring order and benefit to the world; Buddhists seek to realize the Dao to awaken and bring salvation to the world; while Daoist immortals simply preserve the Dao to transform all of humankind.
Zhang saw all three teachings as useful and part of a whole concerning awakening one’s Original Nature (元 性, Yuan Xing).
His overriding view was that the cultivation of Dao meant the study and practice of three entrances for attaining immortality: “Awakening the Spiritual Nature,” “Nourishing-Life,” and “Harmonizing the Yin and Yang.” 5 But these three entrances he considered “had to be rooted in the cultivation of merit and virtue (功 德, gong de), 6 as these are the very essence of attaining the Dao, while the cultivation of the Elixir of Immortality is the application of the Dao. Both are necessary components for attaining immortality.”
What Zhang is implying here, as in all legitimate Daoist schools of internal alchemy, is that unless students are willing to change their mortal temperament and conduct through the measures of accumulating merit and virtue, the methods of internal alchemy meditation will have very limited results. Meaning, it is a student’s merit and virtue that is the foundation and catalyst, the very essence, for attaining the Dao, as no one can enter the Dao without merit and virtue. As The Scripture on Dao and Virtue (道 德 經, Dao De Jing) states, “the Dao honors and accepts only the good.”
Internal alchemy (cultivating and forming the Elixir of Immortality) is thereby the application by which a person can fully realize the Dao. Both “attaining the Dao” and “realization of the Dao” are the two necessary components for achieving immortality. In Daoism, this is summed up in the two characters de (得) and wu (悟), “attain” and “realize.”
As it is stated in the last verse of The Exalted One’s Clarity and Tranquility of the Constant Scripture (太 上 清 靜 經, Tai Shang Qing Jing Jing), “Attain and realize the Dao,” and it is these two distinct purposes and functions to which Zhang is referring.
“Attaining the Dao” means a cultivator has found his or her correct Dao and so practices it to attain merit and virtue, and “realizing the Dao” is the successful transformation into immortality produced from the practices and the cultivator’s merit and virtue.
This means no accomplished teacher or immortal could ever teach anyone true internal alchemy who has not first cultivated their merit and virtue, as an ill-tempered and ill-mannered person is simply not worthy of receiving the treasures of the Dao and immortality. The spirits of such people are simply too clouded and perplexed, hence they create their own obstacles for not attaining and realizing the Dao. So, in the end, not attaining or realizing the Dao and immortality, is not just a matter of teachers not wanting to teach certain people, rather it is more a matter of such people not perceiving the cultivation of merit and virtue as necessary, and thinking only the application and method of internal alchemy is important. These persons simply cultivate in vain.
Beyond the creation of Taijiquan, Zhang’s contribution to Daoist practices includes a distinct system of meditation. Zhang believed that tranquility must be achieved in all activities of sitting, standing, walking, and lying down. In brief, adding that self-cultivation should be approached on a cyclic and repetitive basis. For example, he taught a method called, “The Great Process for Refining the Elixir.” In this method he taught students to sit for fifteen minutes (calling it the Quarter-Hour Method), standing for five minutes, sitting again for fifteen minutes, standing again for five minutes, sitting again for fifteen minutes, and then walking for five minutes. This was one cycle.
Within this cycle of sitting, standing, and walking meditation a student would spend the first eighteen days of this practice just ridding the mind of extraneous thoughts and distractions, and getting the breathing correct. This first stage was called, Preparing the Cauldron. Then a 99-day practice period, called Forming the Pearl, was undertaken. This second stage focused on congealing the jing and qi energies within the qi cavity in the lower abdomen called the Dan Tian (丹 田, Elixir Field)—which is, in essence, a person’s very center of being. The third stage took place over a nine-month period wherein the congealed essence of jing and qi (or pearl) was then moved up the spine and back, over the head, and down the front of the body, returning to the Dan Tian again. This stage was called the River Cart, as the sensation of the elixir is that of a fluid circulating through the meridians of the body. Other sects of Daoism refer to this process as the Lesser Heavenly Circuit or Microcosmic Orbit, but Zhang’s method is the most pragmatic.
Zhang did not believe that toiling the body with long periods of forced meditation was useful. In fact, this is usually dangerous. He believed that entering true tranquility was a spontaneous response to diligent practice and not something that could be brought about or achieved through painful and forced practice. It wasn’t that he thought long periods of meditation were useless; it was more a matter of understanding that a cultivator should enter tranquility without the thought or forced effort of entering it. To Zhang, it had to be completely natural and spontaneous. In many ways Zhang’s meditation method was as revolutionary as his invention of Taijiquan.
The Ming Emperors and Zhang Sanfeng
In 1385 of the Ming dynasty, the emperor Tai Zu sent envoys throughout the Daoist sacred mountain areas to search for Zhang, but to no avail. During the years 1403 through 1425, the emperor Cheng Zu (成 祖) repeatedly sent his imperial officials and envoys to locate him in several known mountain regions where Zhang cultivated. But time and time again these envoys would be told they had just missed him or had the wrong location (and for eight years the imperials were unknowing of his ascension in the year 1417). Zhang’s disciples would always forewarn him of the approaching imperial officials so he could quickly escape and go into hiding until their departure. The emperor Cheng Zu had hoped to convince Zhang to serve as an official in his royal court. Even though the emperor could not locate Zhang, he still, out of honor and respect for him, helped to make Zhang’s prophecy for Wudang Mountain becoming a sacred place come true. This prophecy is one of the more popular stories attached to Zhang. After he built his meditation hut on Wudang Mountain, he placed all the unused wood, bushes, and rubble into a pile and predicted to his disciples that this mound of debris will one day flourish and become a famous monastery. It was Cheng Zu who had a large Daoist temple on Wudang Mountain constructed in 1420.
After Zhang’s disappearance, later reports of his reappearance began circulating which claim that he took on the persona of being a crazy, poor beggar in order to not be recognized as the immortal the imperials were searching for, and ensuring his anonymity among the populace. When visiting a village, he would smear mud and dirt over his face and body, openly urinate in public, shout profanities at people, reek of bad odors from never bathing, and would on occasion appear belligerently drunk. All of this behavior earned him the moniker “Dirty Zhang.”
Despite all of Zhang’s efforts to maintain anonymity during his life, in 1459 the emperor Ying Zong (英 宗) canonized him with the honorific title “Perfect Manifestation of Pervasive Subtlety.” In 1486, the emperor Xian Zong (憲 宗) granted him the title “Brilliant and Lofty Perfect Immortal.” In 1623, Emperor Xi Zong (熹 宗) announced Zhang Sanfeng had descended unto the temple altar on Wudang Mountain, visibly manifesting his spirit to everyone there, and so offered him the title “The Perfected Flying Dragon Sovereign Who Bestows Salvation, Promotes Benevolence, and Benefits the World.”
All the emperors of the Ming dynasty admired and bestowed honors upon Zhang Sanfeng, which served to further propagate his status and create a surge of Daoist believers in him. The legend of Zhang’s life and immortality has since been told and retold, updated, and renewed constantly. Even into the Qing dynasty, stories still circulated about Daoist searchers meeting Zhang Sanfeng and being taught the Daoist arts of immortality from him.
The Written Records of Zhang Sanfeng
If Zhang had been a county magistrate in Liaoning province it would have meant he was well educated and would have most probably entered the civil examinations as a young man. If this were true, then indeed he would have had the literary skills to write at least some of the texts attributed to him. He was also thought to have had a photographic memory as he could remember by heart whatever books he read, and was very skilled in writing poems and discourses. The more popular and present Chinese texts that have been circulated bearing his name include:
Zhang Sanfeng’s Secret Arts for Refining the Elixir (張 三 豐 太 極 煉 丹 秘 訣, Zhang San Feng Tai Ji Lian Dan Bi Jue)
Zhang Sanfeng Essays on the Essentials of the Great Dao (張 三 豐 大 道 指 要, Zhang San Feng Da Dao Zhi Yao)
Collections on the Sect of Zhang Sanfeng Daoist Arts (張 三 豐 道 術 滙 宗, Zhang San Feng Dao Shu Hui Zong)
Collections on the Sect of Zhang Sanfeng Martial Arts (張 三 豐 武 術 滙 宗, Zhang San Feng Wu Shu Hui Tsung)
All these texts, however, are basically excerpted and annotated reprints of an earlier compilation by Li Xiyue (李 西 月) in 1844, titled, The Complete Book of Zhang Sanfeng (張 三 豐 全 書, Zhang San Feng Quan Shu), a compilation of preserved sections from the Daoist Canon (道 藏, Dao Zang) dedicated to the teachings of Zhang Sanfeng.
Anna Seidel mentions in her research on Zhang Sanfeng that a sixteenth-century work titled A Record of Evidences of Worthy Persons in China’s Dynasties (國 朝 獻 徵 錄, Guo Chao Xian Zheng Lu) discusses what was known and believed about Zhang Sanfeng in the Ming dynasty, but it provides the same inconclusive conclusions as have the researches of present-day scholars.
In the end, there are numerous references to this person Zhang Sanfeng throughout the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, yet none of these references pinpoint exactly who he was. The curious aspect to all this is that Zhang Sanfeng received a great deal of imperial attention, the Daoist hierarchy likewise conferred great honors upon him and have propagated his teachings, people throughout China have left behind numerous accounts of encounters with this man, and yet with all this as reference, no real evidence exists of who he was, only of what he taught and what he represented. And all of it is based on the assumption that the person called Zhang Sanfeng is the same person under various other names. Even without concrete, verifiable proof connecting all the stories of him, it would be wrong not to accept the existence of Zhang Sanfeng, as it is highly improbable that a myth of this grand a scale could have been so widely accepted or existed for so long. Hence, to consider Zhang as just a myth equally means we must form the conclusion that all these emperors and imperial officials, all the learned and cultivated Daoists, and many reputable citizens who believed in and claimed the existence of Zhang were all just simpleminded fools.
The Disciples of Zhang Sanfeng
Interestingly enough, tracing the works and students descending from Zhang is far easier than actually tracing him personally, yet there is no conclusive evidence showing his post lineage to be completely accurate. However, it is recorded that Zhang Sanfeng had a disciple named Wang Zong (王 宗). The disciple Wang Zong has long been confused with the later fifth-generation disciple Wang Zongyue (王 宗 岳). Obviously this confusion stemmed from the similarities in their names. But Zhang couldn’t have taught Wang Zongyue as some have professed for the simple reason that Wang Zongyue lived in the mid-1600s, over two hundred years after Zhang’s passing.
The following list concerns Zhang Sanfeng’s descendent-lineage disciples and should not be confused with the Seven Disciples of the Wudang Sect, whom Zhang supposedly taught as well.
1) Wang Zong 7 from Shensi province taught Chen Zhoutong (陳 州 同) from Wenzhou.
2) Chen Zhoutong then taught Zhang Songxi (張 松 溪) from Haiyan.
3) Zhang Songxi then taught Ye Jimei (葉 繼 美) from Siming.
4) Ye Jimei taught Wang Zongyue from Shanyou. 8
5) Wang Zongyue taught Jiang Fa (蔣 發) from Hebei.
6) Jiang Fa, in turn, taught Chen Wangting, (陳 王 廷, 1590?) from Honan, founder of the Chen Style of Taijiquan.
7) Chen Wangting taught his family members, and finally Chen Zhangxing (陳 長 興, 1771 to 1853), the fifth generation Chen family master taught Yang Luchan (陽 露 禪, 1799 to 1872), who later created his own Yang family style of Taijiquan.
In 1399, differing accounts claim that Zhang returned to either Dragon-Tiger Mountain or to Wudang Mountain, accompanied by his two disciples, Wang Zong and Chen Zhoutong. The Wudang claim appears less credible because it says that he returned to live in the temple the emperor Cheng Zu constructed in his honor, but the temple wasn’t built until 1420, three years after Zhang’s supposed passing. At some point in this period, seven other disciples descended upon him, and Zhang taught all of them the secrets of immortality and Taijiquan before he mounted a dragon. These students came to be known as the Seven Disciples of the Wudang Sect (武 當 派 七 子, Wu Dang Pai Qi Zi), and are recorded as:
Song Yuanqiao (宋 遠 橋)
Zhang Songxi (張 松 溪)
Zhang Cuishan (張 翠 山)
Mo Gusheng (莫 谷 聲)
Yu Daiyan (俞 岱 岩)
Yu Lianzhou (俞 蓮 舟)
Yin Liheng (殷 利 亨)
Dating the Text of the Tai Ji Quan Treatise
In the publication of The Complete Book of Zhang Sanfeng (張 三 豐 全 書, Zhang San Feng Quan Shu) by Li Xiyue (李 西 月) in 1844, which includes the Tai Ji Quan Treastise, Li states that the contents of his work were taken from the Daoist Cannon. The fourth and last compilation of the Daoist Canon was produced in the Ming dynasty in the year 1444. Without access to the Ming dynasty edition, it is uncertain whether or not Zhang’s treatise was included.
Yet, in 1845 at White Cloud Monastery in Beijing, missing pieces of the canon were replaced. It could be assumed that it was during this reconstruction of the canon that the works of Zhang Sanfeng were placed, but this could only be true if the publication date of Li Xiyue is wrong or he had access to the Daoist Canon before White Cloud Monastery completed their publication. However, if this treatise was in the Ming dynasty edition, then it could very well have been the work of Zhang Sanfeng or one of his early disciples, such as Wang Zong. If, however, it was not included into the Daoist Canon until 1845, then it was more likely a work of Wang Zongyue attributed to Zhang Sanfeng, and was then passed down through the Chen family and to the Yang family.
The one real problem with the treatise is the inclusion at the end of the text wherein it correlates Taijiquan movements and functions with the Eight Diagrams and Five Elements. This portion of the treatise does not fit with what precedes it, neither in style nor in content, and obviously was added at some point to bring a greater correlation between Taijiquan and the underlying philosophies of Eight Diagram and Five Element theory. 9 Where it came from, who wrote it, and when it was added to this treatise are all unknown, and left to conjecture.
Conclusion
The legends surrounding the figure of Zhang Sanfeng are bountiful, and ever so mystical and empyreal, like swirling mists drifting about the mountain regions he inhabited. In the person of Zhang Sanfeng we find several men being presented—from Dirty Zhang, to a reclusive immortal hermit, to a benevolent healer, a par excellence martial artist, an internal alchemist, a meditation master, and a deified sovereign of the Dao. Which is the true Zhang Sanfeng?
It is easy to assume that the legends surrounding Zhang are simply mythic history, yet within the mythical is always an element of truth. The myths of Zhang Sanfeng may in the end prove to be based on some factual incident or event, or of followers of his who chose to lend his name to the legend, or maybe he was just a shadowy enough figure in the Daoist pantheon that he could be given credit for all the various writings other teachers wished to have gain prominence by attributing him as the author. Whatever the case may be, and maybe it is all of them, the Daoist immortal Zhang Sanfeng is engraved in China’s stone of antiquity forever, and perhaps this is his true immortality.
1 In Daoist internal alchemy practices this is identical with the process of Reverting Jing into the Brain (還 精 補 腦, Huan Jing Bu Nao).
2 The Eight Operations is a more appropriate term for what is normally translated as the Eight Postures of Warding-Off, Rolling-Back, Pressing, Pushing, Splitting, Pulling, Elbowing, and Shouldering, as these operations are kinetic, not stagnant, potential postures of the body.
3 This is presently known as the Lou Fu Mountains (羅 浮 山) in Guangdong province. It is sometimes called Ge Hong Mountain because it is where the famous Daoist scholar and alchemist Ge Hong (283–343 C.E.) lived and cultivated. Today, it is a national park and has many memorials and temples dedicated to Ge Hong.
4 Cloud Wanderer (雲 路, Yun Lu), a title for a Daoist who wandered about mountain regions looking for hermit teachers or simply to escape from all worldly affairs and live within nature.
5 These three methods of cultivation are also referred to as the Three Gateways of Daoist Philosophical Arts, Nourishing-Life Arts, and Joining Vital-Energies Arts, respectively.
6 Cultivating merit and virtue is the main practice of the Accumulating Virtue school of Daoism. The main text for this teaching is found in the Tai Shang Gan Ying Pian (太 上 感 應 篇). See The Exalted One’s Actions and Retribution Tablets by Stuart Alve Olson (Valley Spirit Arts).
7 Wang Zong wrote a commentary on the Daoist classic Yin Fu Jing (Yin Convergence Scripture) that dates back to the mid-1400s.
8 Wang Zongyue is the attributed author of the two other major Taijiquan works: The Tai Ji Quan Classic and The Mental Elucidation of the Kinetic Thirteen Operations. He also supposedly wrote a book called, Yin Fu Spear. Again, because Wang Zong wrote a commentary on the Yin Convergence Scripture and Wang Zongyue wrote a book on Yin Convergence Spear (陰 符 槍, Yin Fu Qiang), some people assumed they were the same person.
9 For a much more detailed look at this subject, see T’ai Chi According to the I Ching: Embodying the Principles of the Book of Changes (Inner Traditions, 2001).