Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life

The Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life ( 性命圭旨 Xingming Guizhi ), containing volumes entitled Yuan, Heng, Li and Zhen, is attributed to a disciple of Perfect Man Yin in legend. As it has a preface by Yu Yongning in the 43rd year Wanli Era, the book may have been completed during the Ming Dynasty. The book, with a wide-range quotations and charted exposition, illustrates the theory and practice of inner alchemy. The book, first uses the Chart of the Three Sages to express its absorption of Confucianism and Buddhism ( 《三聖圖》 Sansheng Tu ), and concludes its syncretism into Daoism. For example, Volume Yuan collects the Chart of the Supreme Ultimate ( 《太極圖》 Taiji Tu ) by the Song Dynasty Confucian, Zhou Dunyi, the Chart of Esoteric Spells of Avaloketeshvara ( 《觀音密咒圖》 Guanyin Mizhou Tu ) of Buddhsim, and finally sums up with Daoist Chart of Ascending to Heaven ( 《飛升圖》 Faisheng Tu ). Collected in the Collections of the Essence of the Daoist Canon ( 《道藏精華錄》 Daozang Jinghua Lu ), the book is valuable reference material for the study of the theory and practice of inner alchemy in Yuan and Ming Dynasties. zh:性命圭旨