A RECORD OF ALL THINGS UNDER HEAVENAs gathered from the oldest accounts that remain
PROLOGUE — CHAPTER SEVENOn the Matter of the Three Pure Ones — 三清 — Sanqing
They are called Sanqing — 三清.
San — 三 — means three.
Qing — 清 — means pure. Clear. Pellucid. The quality of water with nothing suspended in it.
Together — 三清 — the Three Purities. The Three Clarities. The Three Pellucid Ones.
They are the highest beings in the Taoist pantheon — 道教 — Daojiao. They stand above all celestial offices. They stand above the Jade Emperor. They stand above every spirit and deity recorded in any text.
They are the source of all existence.
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On how they came to be.
There is a saying in Taoism — 道教 — Daojiao.
The saying is: Yi qi hua san qing — 一炁化三清.
It means: The Energy of the One transforms into the Three Pure Ones.
This saying describes two things simultaneously.
The first: the creation of the universe. From Wuji came Taiji. From Taiji came the first movement. From the first movement came the Energy of the One — Yi Qi — 一炁. From the Energy of the One came three pure expressions. These three expressions are the Three Pure Ones. They are not separate from the Tao. They are the Tao in three conditions.
The second: the path of cultivation within a human body. The Taoists held that the universe is a grand human body and the human body is a small universe. Whatever happened during the creation of the universe can also happen within the body of a practitioner. When the Five Types of Energies — 五行 — Wu Xing — in a body are perfectly mixed and become the Energy of the One, the Energy of the One then transforms into the Three Pure Ones within that practitioner. This is considered a very high level of attainment.
The same saying describes both the cosmological and the personal. This is the nature of the Tao.
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On their sequence.
The Tao Te Ching — 道德經 — Daode Jing — states:
Tao produced One. One produced Two. Two produced Three. Three produced the ten thousand things.
The Three Pure Ones are the living record of this sequence.
Wuji produced Taiji — this is the movement from nothing to one. The first Pure One emerged here.
Taiji produced Yin and Yang — this is the movement from one to two. The second Pure One emerged here.
From Yin and Yang came Three. The third Pure One emerged here. From him came the ten thousand things.
They are not three separate beings who existed independently and then cooperated. They are three phases of one unfolding. One became two became three. The Three Pure Ones are the faces of that unfolding.
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On the first of the Three. Yuanshi Tianzun — 元始天尊.
His full title: Yuanshi Tianzun — 元始天尊 — the Celestial Worthy of the Primordial Beginning. Also called the Original Heavenly Lord. Also called the Universally Honored One of Origin. Also called Daobao — 道寶 — the Treasure of the Tao.
He rules the heaven of Jade Purity — 玉清 — Yuqing. This is the highest of the three heavens of the Three Pure Ones. Its entrance is named the Golden Door — 金門 — Jin Men. He is the source of all truth as the sun is the source of all light.
He emerged from Hundun — 混沌 — the Primordial Chaos — at the beginning of time. Some texts say he manifested spontaneously. Some texts say he emerged when the Heavenly King of the Never-ending Primordial Beginning — 混沌無極元始天王 — Hundun Wuji Yuanshi Tianwang — produced the Great Tao. Both accounts are recorded.
He oversees the earliest phase of creation. He is the universe becoming conscious at its first moment of differentiation.
He created the first writing system by observing the flows of universal life-force energy and recording the patterns on jade tablets — 玉版 — yupan. He is therefore the primordial author of all Taoist scripture. All sacred writing traces back to what he first recorded.
He is depicted holding the Pearl of Creation — 混元珠 — Hunyuan Zhu. The pearl represents the primordial unity from which everything emerged. He holds it because he is closest to it.
He sits at the center of the three. The other two flank him.
He is the universe remembering what it was before it became anything.
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On the second of the Three. Lingbao Tianzun — 靈寶天尊.
His full title: Lingbao Tianzun — 靈寶天尊 — the Celestial Worthy of the Numinous Treasure. Also called the Universal Lord of Divinities and Treasures. Also called Jingbao — 經寶 — the Treasure of Scripture.
He rules the heaven of Upper Purity — 上清 — Shangqing. He sits to the left of Yuanshi Tianzun.
He is the phase of creation in which Yin and Yang are separated. He took what was unified and gave it structure. He classified the elements into their rightful groups. He is responsible for the Law of Things — the natural laws that govern how the universe operates.
He calculates time — 時間 — shijian — and divides it into different epochs — 劫 — jie — kalpas. The cosmic cycles by which time is measured were established by him.
He is the custodian and transmitter of sacred knowledge. He preaches the Taoist law — 道法 — Daofa — to all living creatures. He is the bridge between the silent origin of Yuanshi Tianzun and the manifested wisdom of Daode Tianzun.
He is depicted holding the Ruyi scepter — 如意 — Ruyi. The scepter represents authority. It represents the ordering of the Yang from the Yin. In its curved form it embodies the principle that power follows the natural shape of things rather than imposing upon them.
The sacred texts of the Lingbao school — 靈寶派 — Lingbao Pai — are attributed to his revelation. These texts were transmitted from him to Ge Xuan — 葛玄 — who lived from 164 to 244. From Ge Xuan they passed to Ge Chaofu — 葛巢甫 — who compiled them between 397 and 402. Through this transmission, the cosmic ordering performed by Lingbao Tianzun at the beginning of time reached human hands in written form.
He is the universe putting itself in order after the first moment of distinction.
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On the third of the Three. Daode Tianzun — 道德天尊.
His full title: Daode Tianzun — 道德天尊 — the Celestial Worthy of the Way and Its Virtue. Also called the Grand Supreme Elder Lord — 太上老君 — Taishang Laojun. Also called Taiqing Daode Tianzun — 太清道德天尊. Also called the Lord of Man — 人皇 — Ren Huang — the founder of Taoism.
He rules the heaven of Grand Purity — 太清 — Taiqing. He sits to the right of Yuanshi Tianzun.
He is the phase of creation in which the Tao enters human life. He is not the Tao in its origin — that is Yuanshi Tianzun. He is not the Tao in its ordering — that is Lingbao Tianzun. He is the Tao as it walks among the ten thousand things, teaching them who they are.
He is believed to have manifested in human form as Laozi — 老子 — Lao Zi — the philosopher who wrote the Tao Te Ching — 道德經 — Daode Jing. The connection between Daode Tianzun and Laozi was gradual. It developed across several centuries.
During the reign of Emperor Ming — 漢明帝 — Han Mingdi — and Emperor Zhang — 漢章帝 — Han Zhangdi — of the Eastern Han dynasty — 東漢 — Dong Han — the governor of Yizhou — 益州 — Yizhou — wrote in the Stele of Laozi's Holy Mother: Laozi is the Dao. He was born before the formless. He arose before the Grand Beginning. He walked in the primal chaos of the Grand Simplicity. He wandered through the six voids. He entered and exited the netherworld. He observed the undifferentiated mixture. He glimpsed the unseparated turbidity and clarity.
This inscription deified Laozi as a divine being existing before heaven and earth. It equated him with the Tao itself.
During the reign of Emperor Shun — 漢順帝 — Han Shundi — Zhang Daoling — 張道陵 — founded the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice — 五斗米道 — Wudoumi Dao — in 142 of the common era. He revered Laozi as the religious leader of his movement. He referred to him as Taishang Laojun — 太上老君 — for the first time. From this point, the deified Laozi and Daode Tianzun became inseparable.
The Tang dynasty — 唐朝 — Tang Chao — emperors of the Li — 李 — family claimed descent from Laozi, whose surname was also Li. This claim elevated Daode Tianzun's status to unprecedented heights. Emperor Xuanzong — 唐玄宗 — Tang Xuanzong — dispatched envoys throughout the empire to collect all existing Daoist writings. He honored Laozi with the title: Great Sage Ancestor, Supreme Golden Tower, Mysterious Origin, Heavenly Emperor — 大聖祖高上金闕玄元天皇大帝 — Da Shengzu Gaoshang Jinjue Xuanyuan Tianhuang Dadi.
He is depicted as an elderly man with white hair — 白髮 — bai fa — and a white beard — 白鬚 — bai xu. He is the only one of the Three Pure Ones depicted with pure white hair. He holds a feather fan — 拂塵 — fuchen. The fan symbolizes the completion of creation. The act of fanning represents the spreading of the Tao to all of humanity.
He is the universe arriving at the door of human life and knocking.
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On their appearance in temples.
The Three Pure Ones are depicted as a seated triad — 三清像 — Sanqing Xiang — in Taoist temples — 道觀 — Daoguan — throughout China.
Yuanshi Tianzun sits at the center. He is the highest. He holds the Pearl of Creation.
Lingbao Tianzun sits to his left. He holds the Ruyi scepter.
Daode Tianzun sits to his right. He holds the feather fan.
They are robed in the three basic colors from which all colors originate. Red. Blue. Yellow, or in some temples Green. The colors differ by tradition. The position does not.
They are always depicted as elderly. This is not because they are old in the human sense. It is because age in Chinese understanding signifies accumulated wisdom, virtue, and proximity to the origin of things.
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On the Three Treasures and the Three Caverns.
Each Pure One corresponds to one of the Three Treasures — 三寶 — Sanbao — of Taoism.
Yuanshi Tianzun corresponds to the Treasure of the Tao — 道寶 — Daobao.
Lingbao Tianzun corresponds to the Treasure of Scripture — 經寶 — Jingbao.
Daode Tianzun corresponds to the Treasure of the Teacher — 師寶 — Shibao.
Each Pure One also corresponds to one of the Three Caverns — 三洞 — Sandong — the three divisions of the Taoist canon — 道藏 — Daozang.
The Cavern of Perfection — 洞真 — Dongzhen — belongs to Yuanshi Tianzun.
The Cavern of Mystery — 洞玄 — Dongxuan — belongs to Lingbao Tianzun.
The Cavern of Spirit — 洞神 — Dongshen — belongs to Daode Tianzun.
The entire Taoist canon — which at its most complete compilation contained over five thousand volumes — is organized according to this structure. Everything written is filed under one of the three. Everything written belongs to one of the three. The Three Pure Ones contain all knowledge.
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On the Three Cinnabar Fields.
Each Pure One corresponds to one of the three cinnabar fields — 三丹田 — san dantian — of the human body.
Yuanshi Tianzun corresponds to the upper cinnabar field — 上丹田 — shang dantian — located in the head. This is the field of Shen — 神 — spirit, consciousness, awareness.
Lingbao Tianzun corresponds to the middle cinnabar field — 中丹田 — zhong dantian — located in the chest. This is the field of Qi — 氣 — life force, breath, energy.
Daode Tianzun corresponds to the lower cinnabar field — 下丹田 — xia dantian — located in the abdomen. This is the field of Jing — 精 — essence, vitality, creative energy.
The congregation of all three — Shen, Qi, and Jing unified in perfect balance — results in the return to the Tao. This is the goal of Taoist internal alchemy — 內丹 — Neidan.
The universe and the body are the same. The Three Pure Ones are the proof.
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On their birthdays.
Yuanshi Tianzun is honored on the first day of the first lunar month — 正月初一 — zheng yue chu yi. This day symbolizes renewal. The beginning of the cosmic cycle.
Lingbao Tianzun is honored on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month — 正月十五 — zheng yue shi wu. This day is associated with universal harmony. The illumination of destiny.
Daode Tianzun is honored on the fifteenth day of the second lunar month — 二月十五 — er yue shi wu. This day honors the embodiment of the Tao in human form.
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On their relationship to the Jade Emperor.
In Taoist theology — 道教神學 — Daojiao Shenxue — the Three Pure Ones rank above the Jade Emperor.
The Jade Emperor governs the three realms — heaven, earth, and the underworld. He administers. He decrees. He judges.
The Three Pure Ones do not govern. They do not administer. They do not decree or judge.
They are not managers of the world. They are the source of the world. A river does not govern the rain that falls. The rain falls. The river carries it. The Three Pure Ones are the rain. The Jade Emperor is the river.
They do not intervene in daily matters. They do not answer the prayers of merchants seeking profit or farmers seeking rain or generals seeking victory. Those prayers go to the gods beneath them. Those gods file reports. Those reports travel upward through the celestial bureaucracy.
The Three Pure Ones stand above the bureaucracy.
They are the condition that makes the bureaucracy possible.
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On the present.
The Taoist temples that house their statues still stand.
The incense that rises before them still rises.
The three seated elders — holding the pearl, holding the scepter, holding the fan — still receive the smoke.
Whether they receive anything else is a question the texts do not answer.
The texts record their nature.
Their nature does not change.
END OF CHAPTER SEVEN