《張三丰先生全集》Vol. 12

This passage serves as the preface to The Complete Works of Master Zhang Sanfeng, detailing the transmission and commentary process of this classic text.

Zhang Boduan of Tiantai Mountain (known as the Purple Yang Immortal) composed Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen Pian), which elucidates the essence of "inner and outer medicines" (a Neidan term referring to the body's Jing, Qi, and Shen in relation to the spiritual energy of heaven and earth) and the return to the primordial state in internal alchemy practice. However, those with shallow understanding at the time mistakenly interpreted it as referring to furnace-fire alchemy (Waidan) or sexual cultivation techniques. Ye Wenshu, failing to grasp the true meaning of returning to the source, annotated the text with empty platitudes about quietism. When Weng Baoguang saw this, he laughed and remarked: "This is someone who doesn't understand the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir!" He then produced a new commentary to correct these errors. Later, Daoist masters Lu Ziye and Chen Shangyang further developed these interpretations, resulting in The Triple Commentary on Awakening to Reality, while Ye Wenshu's annotations were discarded.

Master Zhang Sanfeng of Liaoyang, a realized celestial immortal, composed twenty-four Daoist verses titled The Rootless Tree (Wugen Shu) during his time at Wudang Mountain. These stand as a peerless companion to Zhang Boduan's Awakening to Reality. Yet similarly, some in the world misinterpreted them as advocating sexual cultivation techniques. Li Hanxu (a Qing dynasty Daoist) lamented: "The Great Dao cannot be widely transmitted precisely because its principles remain unclarified!" He often considered writing a commentary to reveal the true meaning but lacked like-minded alchemical companions. Later, when he encountered Liu Yiming's (known as the Awakened One of Qiyun Mountain) Commentary on The Rootless Tree with its profound and comprehensive arguments, he found it perfectly aligned with his own understanding. Li Hanxu then supplemented areas where the commentary remained incomplete, fully explicating key Neidan concepts such as inner/outer medicines, the timing of energy return, and the sequence of furnace-cauldron practice. Thus, the dual commentary edition of The Rootless Tree became as complete as the triple commentary edition of Awakening to Reality.

The preface concludes with two poems inscribed by Zhang Sanfeng himself. Partridge in the Sky (Zhegutian) observes that Daoist methods divide into orthodox and heterodox paths, with people often mistaking red clay for cinnabar (a metaphor for confusing falsehood with truth). To comprehend the profound Dao, one must carefully contemplate the true meaning of The Rootless Tree. Songs of Flower Sellers (Maihuasheng) speaks of expounding eternal truths beneath the rootless tree, noting that all beings in the six realms inherently share the same spiritual light. By realizing the primordial truth of the universe, one comprehends the majestic Dharma form that fundamentally neither comes nor goes.

This preface was composed on the Zhonghe Festival (the first day of the second lunar month) in the seventeenth year of the Hongwu era (1384), personally recorded by Zhang Sanfeng in his thatched hut atop Wudang Mountain's Heavenly Pillar Peak.