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Ma Danyang (originally named Ma Yu) was a famous Daoist (1). He was born around 1123
A.D. to a very wealthy family in Haining (Shandong Province), and as a young man developed
talents in the fields of acupuncture and poetry. In fact, he is well known today for his poem (ode,
song) about 12 acupuncture points, relayed in this article. Soon after marrying Sun Bu'er, he and
his wife followed the Daoist Wang Chongyang (1113-1170). Wang was one of the leading
Daoists of China, and wrote several important works, including the text Chongyang Zhenren
Jinguan Yusuo Jue (Master Wang Chongyang's Instructions on the Golden Gate and Jade
Lock) which described, among other things, visualizations of the world within the body as part
of a meditation practice in cultivating qi. Ma and his wife built a Daoist retreat for Wang, gave
up their extensive family property holdings, and became Daoist monks, living a simple and
peaceful life. Eventually they separated in order to pursue their celibate meditative activities in
solitude. Before his death, Wang conferred on Ma the secret method of the "Complete
Perfection" (quanzhen). Ma practiced this and became known as one of the Perfect Ones Who
Embrace Oneness. He was thus acknowledged as one of the "seven perfect ones of the north," as
was his wife (see the Appendix). He had written two books: Shenguang Can (Brilliance of
Divine Light) and Dongxuan Jinyu Ji (Gold and Jade Essays of the Pervasive Mystery). The
name that he took, Danyang, translates as "Cinnabar Yang," meaning "Yang Elixir."
Ma Danyang had written an ode to 11 miraculous acupuncture points, which was published
within the text of Jade Dragon Manual in 1329. A century later, Xu Feng (who is known for
introducing the eight extraordinary meridians) added a 12th point and gave the ode the new
name: Song of the Twelve Points Shining Bright as the Starry Sky and Able to Heal All the Many
Diseases. This song was translated to English and published as an appendix to The Golden
Needle and Other Odes of Traditional Acupuncture by Richard Bertschinger in 1991 (2). The
original name of the 11 point song by Ma Danyang is instructive: Song of the Eleven Points
Responding to the Stars in the Sky. It is likely that Ma was thinking not only of the wondrous
nature of the points, later described as "shining bright as the starry sky," but also about the
influence of the stars on the points, as part of the Daoist interpretation of acupuncture.
The ode (song) is structured very simply. Each verse is comprised of phrases of five
characters; also, except for the introduction, all verses (describing each of the acupuncture
points) are comprised of 8, 10, or 12 of these five-character phrases. After an introduction
naming all the points and indicating that certain points might be used in pairs, each of the 12
points is described in three parts:
• First, there is a brief description of the point's location and methods of finding it.
• Second, there is a list of conditions that can be treated by using this acupuncture
point. The conditions are primarily those with a sudden onset of symptoms, but
they may also be problems that are recurring or continuous. Spasms, pain, stiffness,
swellings, fullness, fevers, and digestive system disorders are the main ones
mentioned.
• Third, there may be a comment about how to perform the treatment, such as depth
of insertion or use of moxibustion, and there is always a comment about the
wonderful effects of the treatment, usually pointing to immediate results, or to
bringing peace, or magically vanquishing the disorder.
The 12 points are presented in the table below, including a concise listing of the indications
given by Ma Danyang in the ode (the point LV-3 is the 12th point that was added later and
described in the same style as used by Ma). After the table, the entire ode is provided, with slight
editing of the translation by Bertschinger.
The appearance of the verses, in Chinese characters, was like this one for Zusanli (3):
Introduction
Put out your hand to Three Miles, Inner Courtyard, the Crooked Pond, and Joining Valleys.
Pair Middle Equilibrium with Receiving the Mountain, Supreme Rushing with Kunlun
Mountains,
Jumping Circle accompanies the Yang Mound, Penetrating Within along with Narrow Defile.
With support use the rule of support; with severance, use the rule of severance.
All 360 holes do not escape these 12 strange charms; healing a disease is like magic:
A torrent whirling as wind-driven snow, the Northern Dipper sends down its true workings.
The Golden Lock teaches us to snap it open.
One truly clever can pass this on; the unfaithful have only restless talk.
Wang Chongyang is especially known for integrating what he considered the better aspects
of the three teachings that dominated China's religions at the time-Daoism, Buddhism, and
Confucianism-and incorporated them into the Quanzhen School. Some trace this school back to
the Han Dynasty, at about the same time as Zhang Daoling formed this religious approach that
included attempts at longevity or immortality and following the teaching of Laozi and Chuangzi.
In that interpretation, Wang is considered the fifth patriarch of this school, which was named
after two Daoists: Wang Xuanpu and his disciple Quan Zhongli. However, most authorities
simply consider Wang Chongyang the founder of this school of Daoism. Buddhism, known in
China as Chan (Ch'an), played a particularly strong role in Wang Chongyang's approach to
Daoism, while his primary Daoist influence was from Lu Dongbin, known as one of the Eight
Immortals. Confucianism played a relatively minor role.
Wang moved away from the elaborate ceremonies, the writing of talismans and use of
charms (both characteristic of the Zhengyi sect), and reduced the intricate visualizations that
were central to the old Daoist traditions. He put a greater emphasis on self cultivation through
the practice of quiet sitting meditation. He thought that the best approach was to have
companions in the endeavor, so group meditations, group study of texts, and other group
activities were encouraged, hence the development of a monastic system to replace the more
isolated practices that were common at the time, represented by the isolated Daoist living in a
tiny hut on a remote mountain. He identified closely with the simplicity and naturalness in
Laozi's Daode Jing, as well as Zhuangzi's teachings of spontaneity and non interference (wu
wei), but he preferred to have formal meditation sessions in the temple managed by a Daoist
master rather than wandering the mountains that was depicted as the ideal by Zhuangzi.
The elements he took from Buddhism included their concepts and terminology relating to
karma and rebirth and, in particular, the teachings of the Heart Sutra and the Diamond Sutra, the
fundamental Buddhist texts. He encouraged his followers to study the Classic of Filial Piety by
Confucius, to help others, and do good deeds whenever they could. He said that helping others
and being clear and tranquil contributes to developing the golden elixir, the true inner nature that
leads to immortality. He advised that people wishing to cultivate their true nature should not seek
fame, wealth, or profit, should eliminate worry and anger, and should abstain from sex, alcohol,
and strong smelling vegetables (onion, garlic, etc.). Wang also recommended the use of Chinese
herbs, both to improve one's own health and to benevolently aid the health of others. Gaining
knowledge of Chinese herbs was one of the fifteen instructions he promulgated to summarize the
sect (5):
In accord with these teachings, Wang and his followers lived a very simple and ascetic life,
surviving on only the bare necessities. They had intensive periods of meditation, and followed
ascetic practices such as never laying down to sleep. Sometimes they would wander together
from place to place, at other times they would live separately as hermits. Although the Quanzhen
school adopted an organized temple lifestyle as it developed after Wang's death, the path of
simplicity that he advocated still remains a strong part of the tradition. To this day it is still
common for priests to spend a period of two or three years with the external form of "cloud
wandering," in which they travel the countryside, visiting temples and studying with different
teachers, though mostly they participate in the inner cloud wandering via sitting meditation.
Those whose cultivation develops may also choose to spend time living as a hermit in one of the
small shrines or caves that are found in the mountains of China.
By tradition the Quanzhen Daoist priests possess seven sacred objects: "The first object is
the meditation cushion which tames the monsters of the mind. The second is the robe which
subdues the mischievous mind. The third is the bowl which holds only purified (meatless) food.
The fourth is a straw hat for protection against wind, rain, frost, and snow. The fifth is a horse-
hair whisk or fan for sweeping away the dust of the mundane world. The sixth is a bag for
carrying the sacred scriptures. The seventh is a staff for clearing the obstacles that block the clear
wind and bright moon of the Tao." The priests will also apply the following cultivations in their
daily life: "When walking, the gait should be like that of a crane and the body should move like
an immortal floating with the winds. When sitting, the body should be still as a rock. When
sleeping, it should be curved like a bow. When standing, it should be like a tall pine. The body
should be as flexible as a willow in the wind and as relaxed as the petals of a lotus."
The teachings of Wang Chongyan were passed on to seven famous disciples (who became
known as the Seven Immortals), each of whom developed a sect of Quanzhen Daoism. The sect
of Ma Danyang, the poet and acupuncturist, is called Yuxian (Meeting the Immortals); the sect
of his wife, Sun Bu'er, is called Qingjing (Clarity and Stillness; which has the meaning of
chastity).
The most famous disciple of Wang Chongyan was Qiu Quji, also called Qiu Changchun; his
sect is called Longmen (Dragon Gate) and is a major influence on modern practice of Taiji and
Qigong. One of Qiu's greatest accomplishments, however, was that he purportedly convinced
Genghis Khan to cease his killing, perhaps saving tens of thousands of lives.
Three other disciples developed sects that were named for the mountains they used as
retreat centers: Liu Chuxuan, whose sect is called Suishan (Mount Sui); Hao Datong developed
the Huashan (Mount Hua) sect; Wang Yuyang developed the sect called Yushan (Mount Yu).
Also, the disciple Tan Chuduan developed the sect called Nanwu (Southern Void). He
became influential by adapting a teaching of Ma Danyang regarding self-cultivation in the
temple, suggesting that it could be done at home as well. This popularized the Daoist tradition,
by making it more accessible to those who could not live at or regularly visit a temple for
meditation practice.
The main center of Quanzheng Daoism today is the Baiyunguan (White Cloud Monastery)
in Beijing. The construction of this temple started in 739 A.D.: Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang
Dynasty built this temple to show his piety for Daoism and to worship Laozi. It is the biggest
Daoist structure in the city of Beijing, covering an area of over 40,000 square meters (nearly 10
acres). The Qiu Zu Hall (named after Qiu Quji) is the most scared place of the Quanzhen Sect
and the founding temple of the Longmen Sect. The white-marble statue of Laozi in the hall is a
relic left from the Tang Dynasty and a rare Daoist work of art. Laolutang is the main hall for
holding religious services, where statues of the seven Immortals of Quanzhen are worshipped,
with Qiu Quji in the center.
At Baiyunguan, the temple priests offer services morning and evening. They rely on a
published daily prayer book that allows the participants to recite all the prayers, which are
chanted with accompaniment by bronze and wooden gongs. The services have five components
(6)
The morning and evening prayers each have a different focus. The morning prayers are
dedicated especially to self-development and to aiding others along this same path; the evening
prayers are aimed at alleviating the suffering of the sick and dying and at addressing the spirits of
those who have already passed away. In addition to these services, the resident Daoists spend
much time in meditation and also in working at the monastery (sweeping the floor is the
quintessential maintenance activity for monks to perform, representing the sweeping away of
mundane dust of the world).
Quanzhen Daoism has had an important influence on Chinese medicine (7). Not only did
the sect's founder, Wang Chongyan, recommend the use of Chinese herbs, but Ma Danyang was
an acupuncturist who recommended essential points for treatment, as described above. The
lifestyle of Wang's Daoists was extreme and difficult. They practiced vegetarianism and
minimizing ingestion of food followed by prolonged periods of complete fasting; they minimized
sleep and spent hours in meditation; and they were strictly celibate. Ma Danyang became so thin
that many people approached him worried about his health, but he assured them that he was
following the right path. One poem written by Ma Danyang is titled, Friends of the Dao Marvel
over my Pure Thinness:
My thinness is thinness that accords with the teachings.
I am not allowing my skin to wrinkle.
The body of the crane and the shape of the pine tree,
Are the venerable elders of the woods and springs.
Although these Daoists may have believed that these practices led to a long life on earth,
Wang emphasized the immortality of the spirit, not of the human body, and most of these
practitioners lived no more than 60-80 years of age. But, there were stories of Daoists living for
centuries; in fact, Wang Xuanpu was said to have lived through several Dynasties.
The Daoists believed that once one began on the path to purification of the body by these
practices, illness would be banished unless one still failed to clear the mind. Chongyang relates a
story about Ma Danyang and illness:
I took Ma Danyang with me and stayed at the Smoky Mist Grotto on Mt. Kunyu.
Because his mind had not yet emptied, he became ill. He had an ache throughout his
head, and the pain was unbearable. It was as though he was being hacked with an
ax. I ordered him to descend from the mountain and treat his headache at his home.
But the pain became even more severe. A man came up the mountain and reported
Ma's condition saying, "At this moment at which I have arrived here, Mr. Ma has
certainly already died. Upon hearing this I clapped my hands, laughed loudly and
said, "I came to Shandong wanting to make him into an Immortal. I appreciate your
telling me about his supposed death. He caught this disease because of his lack of
faith."
Fortunately, Ma did recover from his illness. This story is followed by poems exchanged
between the master and his disciple involving this incident. In the first poem, Wang admonishes
Ma for being unfaithful and thus vulnerable to disease, telling him: "Because of your lack of
faith, your whole head ached;" and "Your sweet heart continued to long for worldly comforts and
thus you entered the pond of confusion." Ma, in his poem, acknowledges his failings: "I
limitlessly thank you, my master, for profoundly teaching me to repent." When the fully
recuperated Ma begs to return to the mountain, his master turns him down saying: "When you
come to live in the mountain, I will descend from the mountain. My heart always dislikes the
ignorant and the stubborn." Wang also expresses his regret over the fact that all he had taught Ma
had gone to waste, by saying: "In past days I wasted one thousand mouthfuls of breath." But the
two are finally reconciled after Ma persists in his pleas for re-acceptance.
Leakage of essence (e.g., by seminal emission for men or menstruation for women) was
considered to be preventable if the mind was free of superfluous thoughts. In order to prevent
leakage, Quanzhen adepts focused their efforts on suppressing their desires while using various
methods of meditation, internal visualization, controlled breathing, and simple exercises to
circulate the qi and gather it at the Elixir Field where it could be refined into perfect qi.
The restriction on food intake led to less urination and defecation, hence less chance of
losing essences that way. The Daoists performed only moderate exercises (practices like modern
Taiji), which did not lead to loss of essence via sweat. Because of the low nutritional status, men
were more able to restrict their sexual impulses and women would not maintain their menstrual
cycle (we know now that this is due, in part, to lack of estrogen that is normally stored in the
fatty tissues). The Daoists practiced "eating air" which was literally swallowing air into the
stomach, relieving some of the spasms of hunger.
The study of herbs was one of the fifteen instructions of Wang's school of Daoism, with a
special focus on herbs that restrain the essence. Of course, herbs could also be used to treat a
variety of diseases and protect the body from harmful environmental influences, but it was
expected that such goals could be accomplished through meditation, while laypersons and new
practitioners might need the herbs to assist them. The following are among the main herbs that
are listed as helping to prevent loss of semen (8):
actinolite (yangqishi) euryale (qianshi) rehmannia (dihuang)
allium seed (congzi) ficus (xuelishi) oyster shell (muli)
alpinia (yizhiren) halloysite (chishizhi) rose fruit (jinyingzi)
astragalus seed (shayuanzi) lotus stamen (lianxu) rubus fruit (fupenzi)
cedrela (chungenbaipi) lycium fruit (gouqizi) schizandra (wuweizi)
cordyceps (dongchongxiacao) ho-shou-wu (heshouwu) terminalia (hezi)
cornus (shanzhuyu) lotus seed (shilianzi) tortoise shell (guiban) walnut
cuscuta (tusizi) mantis eggcase (sangpiaoxiao) (hutaoren)
deer antler (lurong) orobanche (liedang)
dioscorea (shanyao) pomegranate rind (shiliupi)
In addition, one could lose essence by sweating, of special concern was uncontrolled
incidents, referred to as spontaneous sweating or nocturnal sweating. Herbs that helped prevent
this problem include:
astragalus (huangqi) oyster shell (muli) schizandra (wuweizi)
atractylodes (baizhu) placenta (ziheche) soja (heidou)
dragon bone (longgu) pseudostellaria (taizishen) wheat (fuxiaomai)
oryza (nuomi, jingmi, nuomigen) rehmannia (dihuang)
Two of the herbs in the above lists are used for both spermatorrhea and spontaneous
sweating: rehmannia and schizandra. These are key ingredients of a pill for retaining the essence,
Wuzi Yanzhong Wan (Pill of Five Seeds for Extending the Ancestral Qi), comprised of
rehmannia, schizandra, cuscuta, rubus, and plantago seed. Four of these five ingredients are
listed among the herbs for treating spermatorrhea and that is the original use of this pill. A
formula comprised of several herbs for treating spermatorrhea is Huan Shao Dan (the youth-
restoring pellet), comprised of 14 herbs, including rehmannia, cornus, lycium, schizandra,
morinda, dioscorea that are listed for that purpose, along with other tonics for the kidney, it is
indicated for both spermatorrhea and excessive perspiration. A simplified version is Guishen
Wan (Restore the Kidney Pill), which has 9 ingredients, including five in the above lists:
rehmannia, dioscorea, cornus, lycium fruit, and cuscuta. These three formulas are also indicated
for aching of the back due to weakness of the kidney and their modern applications include
infertility and impotence. A remedy made especially for spermatorrhea is the Pill of Golden
Lock (Lotus Stamen Formula, Jinsuo Gujing Wan), which has astragalus seed, euryales, lotus
seed, oyster shell, dragon bone, and lotus stamen. Another formula for this application is Futu
Dan (Hoelen and Cuscuta Formula), with lotus seed, dioscorea, schizandra, cuscuta, and hoelen.
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