Wang Chongyang

Wang Chongyang (11 January 1113 – 22 January 1170) [Chinese calendar: 宋徽宗政和二年十二月廿二 – 金世宗大定十年正月初四] (Traditional Chinese: 王重陽; Simplified Chinese: 王重阳; pinyin: Wáng Chóngyáng) was a Song Dynasty Taoist who was one of the founders of Quanzhen Taoism in the twelfth century. He is one of the Five Northern Patriarchs of that school of Taoism. Jinyong's popular wuxia novels include a character based on Wang Chongyang.

Name

* Family name: Wang (王)
* Given name: originally Zhongfu (中孚), later changed to Dewei (德威), changed to Zhe (喆) when became a Taoist
* "zì": originally Yunqing (允卿), later changed to Shixiong (世雄), changed to Zhiming (知明) when became a Taoist
* "hào": Chongyangzi (重陽子) when became a Taoist

Life

Born Wang Zhongfu in 1113, Wang Chongyang grew up in a wealthy family and received a classical education as well as training in the martial arts.

According to tradition, in the summer of 1159 when he was 48 years old, he met two Taoist immortals in a pub, Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin, who provided him with training in secret Taoist rituals. He changed his name to Zhe and adopted the Taoist name Chongyang.

In 1160 he met one of the immortals again who provided him with five written instructions, the "Ganshui xianyuan lu." According to tradition those written instructions included the names of two men who would later become his disciples, Ma Yu and Tan Chuduan. In a state of delirium, Wang Chongyang then dug himself a grave near Mount Zhongnan that he called the "Tomb of the Living Dead," and lived in it for three years.

At the end of the three years, Wang Chongyang filled in the grave and built a hut on top of it, called "Complete Perfection Hut." He lived in the hut for another four years, continuing his Taoist studies and teaching others. During that time, he met Tan Chuduan who became Wang's disciple after Wang cured Tan's illness. Qiu Chuji and Tan traveled around the local towns and villages with Wang as he founded five Taoist congregations. Later, Wang Chongyang's teachings were referred to the "Teachings of the Complete Perfection" (after the hut) and his branch of Taoism became known as the Quanzhen ("Complete Perfection") school.

In 1167, Wang Chongyang burned down the hut, dancing and chanting. He then traveled east to Shandong where he met Ma Yu and Ma's wife Sun Bu'er who also became his disciples. He ultimately collected seven disciples who were later known as either The Seven Masters of Quanzhen or The Seven Elders of Quanzhen. They are also sometimes called the Seven Immortals or Seven Perfected Beings.

Writings

Wang Chongyang was the author of many poems of Taoist instruction. According to legend, Liu Chuxuan became a follower of Wang Chongyang after seeing one of Wang's poems on a wall.

Wang Chongyang's writings include:
*"An Anthology of Complete Perfection by Chongyang" ("Chongyang quanzhen ji")
*"Chongyang's Anthology on Teaching Transformation" ("Chongyang jiaohua ji")
*"Chongyang's Anthology of the Ten Transformations by Dividing Pears" ("Chongyang fenli shihua ji") (The phrase "to divide a pear" is a pun for "to separate," these were writings intended to convince Ma Yu and Sun Bu'er to separate in order to better cultivate the Dao.)

Disciples

Particularly notable among Wang Chongyang's seven disciples were Sun Bu'er, and Qiu Chuji. Sun Bu'er is now one of the most important female Taoist role-models. Her husband, Ma Yu, was another of the seven disciples. He eventually succeeded Wang Chongyang as the leader of the Quanzhen sect.

Qiu Chuji gained the favor of Genghis Khan and founded the famous White Cloud Monastery in Beijing. Genghis Khan granted tax-exempt status to all Quanzhen monasteries and put Qiu Chuji in charge of all religions in China. The strong start this provided helped the Quanzhen school of Taoism to flourish, and it is still strong today.

Each of the seven disciples founded his or her own lineage of Quanzhen Taoism. They are as follows:
# Ma Yu (馬鈺) founded the Yuxian lineage (Meeting the Immortals)
# Tan Chuduan (譚處端) founded the Nanwu lineage (Southern Void)
# Liu Chuxuan (劉處玄) founded the Suishan lineage (Mount Sui)
# Qiu Chuji (丘處機) founded the Longmen lineage (Dragon Gate)
# Wang Chuyi (王處一) founded the Yushan lineage (Mount Yu)
# Hao Datong (郝大通) founded the Huashan lineage (Mount Hua)
# Sun Bu'er (孙不二) founded the Qingjing lineage (Clarity and Stillness)

Popular culture

Wang Chongyang is a fictional character in Jinyong's "Condor Trilogy". He is also known as Central Divinity (中神通) in the novels.

Wang Chongyang is mentioned throughout the novels "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "The Return of the Condor Heroes". Xie Xun mentions Wang Chongyang in chapter 7 of "The Heavenly Sword and the Dragon Saber", and also in chapter 16 in the third revision of the novel.

Martial arts

Quanzhen martial arts, Yi Yang Finger and attained mastery in the art of Nine Negation.

Life in the fiction

Wang Chongyang in the world of Jinyong was an extraordinary man. He first appeared in Jinyong's novel, The Legend of the Condor Heroes as a patriotic Taoist loyal to Song Dynasty. His story was later told by one of his prominent disciples, Qiu Chuji in the sequel to the novel entitled "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

The Battle for Song Dynasty

In his younger years, he assembled an army of righteous, heroic men against the Jurchens with the objective to recover the lost territories of the Song Dynasty and rescue the Han Chinese who lived under dire circumstances under the Jin rule. However, he could not overcome the strong and powerful Jurchen army and was defeated many times and in the end he gave up this dream of his.

The retreat

Wang Chongyang later retreated to an ancient tomb in Mount Zhongnan where he resided for many years contemplating on his mistakes and meditating. He refused to share the same sky with the Jurchens and made a vow never to step out of the tomb. Eventually, many friends came to urge Wang Chongyang to come out of the tomb because they considered him a hero and the Jins (Jurchens) were still attacking the Song.

The Emperor of the Jurchen Empire still saw Wang Chongyang as a threat even when his army was gone. So, he sent more than ten martial arts experts to find the ancient tomb and kill Wang Chongyang. However, all of those martial arts experts were inferior to Wang Chongyang and therefore all defeated and or killed by him.

After the death of that emperor the new emperor did not know of Wang Chongyang and did not see him as a threat. And so, it seemed that for a while, Wang Chongyang was forgotten by the world of Jiang Hu.

Breaking the vow

It was Lin Chaoying who forced him out of the tomb in the end. Wang Chongyang had met Lin Chaoying earlier in his life and they were very close to each other. She was the only person with whom he felt a certain affinity because of her high skills in kung fu that could rival his own. During the war with the Jurchens, they exchanged correspondence.

Lin Chaoying stood outside Wang's tomb and cursed him for days until finally he stepped out of the tomb to confront her. But when he stood outside, Lin Chaoying laughed and said that he does not have to go back into the tomb anymore because he has already broken his vow by stepping out of the tomb.

From then on, Lin Chaoying and Wang Chongyang roamed Jiang Hu, the realm of martial arts together. They would often train martial arts together and developed their skills to a higher level. Each fell in love with the other but their pride would not let them share their feelings.

Lin Chaoying would often indirectly show hints of her love towards Wang Chongyang, but he pretended not to see those hints. It was not because he did not love her, but he could not bring himself to openly accept her as such and start a relationship with her. Because of this Lin Chaoying thought Wang Chongyang looked down on her and was angered. They would often quarrel and fight each other. Because Wang Chongyang was not eager to fight Lin Chaoying, she could sometimes gain the upper hand but often they would reach a draw.

The duel

The falling out between Lin Chaoying and Wang Chongyang was depicted by a stone slab with inscriptions in the novel, The Return of the Condor Heroes. According to Qiu Chuji who was retelling the story to Guo Jing and Yang Guo, Lin Chaoying found a way to end the endless debate between her and Wang Chongyang.

Lin Chaoying proposed a duel: if Wang Chongyang defeated her, she would commit suicide. But if she won, Wang would either surrender his ancient tomb to her or become a Taoist priest or a Buddhist monk and live in the vicinity of the ancient tomb on Mount Zhongnan for at least 10 years. The underlying meaning of giving up the tomb to her meant marrying her and living in the tomb together. Or if he did not want to, he had to become a Taoist priest or a Buddhist monk and thus preventing him from marrying another woman.

Wang Chongyang consented to this and asked how they would duel. Lin Chaoying said that whoever could write on a stone slab with their finger would win. Wang Chongyang knew his martial arts could not do that. He admitted defeat. Lin Chaoying then walked over to the stone slab and gently stroked the slab a few times. Then, she used her fingers to carve a poem and after she was done she smiled wryly, saying that Wang Chongyang was destined to become a Taoist priest. Lin Chaoying knew that her level in martial arts was inferior to Wang Chongyang and proposed this duel; by stroking the stone slab, she smeared a chemical substance on the slab to make it pliable and thus possible to write on. The very next day, Wang Chongyang became a Taoist priest and resided at Mount Zhongnan.

The founding of Quan Zhen sect

Wang Chongyang only found out how Lin Chaoying won many years later, when Huang Yaoshi visited him and he asked Huang if he knew how it was possible that Lin Chaoying could write on stone. Huang Yaoshi saw the slab and laughed and said he did not master this technique yet of writing on stone and said he would return one month later. After a month, Huang Yaoshi came back and together with Wang Chongyang they went back to the slab. Huang Yaoshi also stroked the slab a few times and proceeded to write another poem on the slab. Wang Chongyang was extremely surprised and when he touched the slab and found out that it was soft, he realised how Lin Chaoying won.

In the beginning Wang Chongyang was very reluctant to become a Taoist priest, but after studying Taoist codices for some time he understood Taoism and became an enlightened priest. Thus, Quanzhen School was founded.

His sworn-brother Zhou Botong became his younger martial arts brother and learnt martial arts from Wang Chongyang. He accepted seven disciples, teaching them Taoist philosophies and martial arts. They were the famous Seven Masters of Quanzhen; Ma Yu, Tan Chuduan, Liu Chuxuan, Qiu Chuji, Wang Chuyi, Hao Datong and Sun Bu'er.

The tomb once more

After many years, Lin Chaoying died. Wang Chongyang quietly entered the ancient tomb again to pay his final respects to the woman he loved. However, when he saw the martial arts Lin Chaoying carved on the walls of the tomb he was shocked. The marvellous Jade Maiden martial arts she had created countered every stance of his Quanzhen martial arts. In "the Return of the Condor Heroes", the Jade Maiden manual of Lin Chaoying would be the ultimate kung fu text fought over by her grand-disciples, Xiaolongnü and Li Mochou.

Wang Chongyang went into retreat for three years, hoping to create a new set of martial arts to overcome the Jade Maiden Scriptures by Lin Chaoying. He was able to come up with some new styles but not the desired results he wanted. He gave up this objective to create a new set of martial arts and respected Lin Chaoying’s talent in martial arts.

The school of Quanzhen

Meanwhile, the Quanzhen school became the most prominent martial arts school in the entire realm of martial arts and was known as the Taoist orthodox martial arts school. The main principles of Quanzhen school was to help others and resist the Jurchen's aggressions in the north. Thus, Wang Chongyang and the Quanzhen school not only won the respect of martial artists but also of the common people.

The scriptures of Jiu Yin Zhen Jing

Several years later, the Genuine Scriptures of Nine Negation (9 Yin Manual of Jiu Yin) (Jiu Yin Zhen Jing) appeared in the realm of martial arts. Many martial artists had died over this scripture; everyone wanted to claim this manual, whatever the cost. The situation became more and more chaotic as nearly a hundred martial artists died over the manual.

To check the growing chaos, Wang Chongyang invited the most prominent and powerful martial arts masters of the time to settle the dispute about the manual once and for all. He invited East Heretic Huang Yaoshi, West Venom Ouyang Feng, South Emperor Duan Zhixing and North Beggar Hong Qigong. Iron Palm Sect leader Qiu Qianren was also invited but unable to attend. The participants agreed to duel at Mount Hua and whoever was the victor could claim the title of the number one martial artist and also claim the Genuine Scriptures of Nine Negation. The duel would consist of a theoretical and a practical part, lasting for seven days and seven nights. In the end, Wang Chongyang was victorious.

Wang Chongyang entered the duel not to claim the manual or for the title of number one martial arts master, but to prevent turmoil in the realm of martial arts thrown, and to stop lives from being wasted on the scripture. He did not want to study the martial arts in the manual and prohibited all Quanzhen disciples from learning it.

But out of curiosity he flipped through the manual and read it. After about ten days he absorbed the contents of the scripture and mastered the Art of Nine Negation. He laughed heartily and knew then how to counter the Scriptures of Jade Maiden by Lin Chaoying. He went back into the tomb and carved a few techniques of the Nine Negation on the walls of the ancient tomb. Later, in The Return of the Condor Heroes, Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü would find these texts and learn it.

The Pre-Heaven skill and the Yi Yang Finger

One year after the tournament, Wang Chongyang and Zhou Botong travelled to the Dali Kingdom to meet Duan Zhixing. Wang Chongyang admired the Yi Yang Finger of the Duan Family and wished to learn the skill. In exchange he would teach Duan Zhixing the Pre-Heaven skill. Being decades older than the other champions at Mt. Hua, Wang Chongyang knew he would die and wanted someone to be able to counter West Venom. If he could pass his Pre-Heaven skill to Duan Zhixing, at least one person could be relied upon to contain Ouyang Feng. He and Zhou Botong stayed in Dali for about half a month.

Prior to his death, he wished to burn the Scriptures of Nine Negation but he could not do it. He reasoned that the manual was not his to burn and hoped that in the future someone would make good use of the scriptures. But he issued a final order that no disciple of the Quanzhen School could learn the martial arts of the manual. With that, Wang Chongyang died.

The West Poison's assault

Zhou Botong and the Seven Masters of Quanzhen mourned the passing of their Master, but later that night several martial arts experts came to Chongyang Palace Shrine with the intent of stealing the scripture. The Seven Masters quickly went outside to engage the enemies and prevent them from entering the shrine and possibly harming the body of Wang Chongyang. Only Zhou Botong remained in the main hall to wait, wary of the greatest threat: West Poison Ouyang Feng. When West Poison did appear, Zhou Botong did his best to stop him, but was no match and was defeated.

Ouyang Feng was about to snatch the scripture next to the coffin of Wang Chongyang when suddenly the lid of the coffin smashed open and Wang Chongyang sprang from the coffin. Striking with surprise, he used his Yi Yang Finger to hit Ouyang Feng between the eyebrows. Ouyang Feng was heavily injured and quickly fled. It would take him at least five years time to recover his broken martial arts.

Some days earlier, Wang Chongyang sensed that Ouyang Feng was lurking in the vicinity, so he feigned his own death to lure him into the open. Wang Chongyang sat down cross-legged to rest; Zhou Botong did not disturb him because he knew that using Yi Yang Finger and the Pre-heaven Skill consumed a lot of energy. He quickly helped the Seven Masters to drive off the other enemies. All of them were very happy that Wang Chongyang was alive but when they came back to the main hall they saw that this time Wang Chongyang had truly died.

Although Jinyong did not mention the exact age when Wang Chongyang died, but it is presumed that he died when he was 80 odd years old.

Third edition of Heavenly Sword and Dragon Sabre

In the recently revised edition of HSDS, Wang Chongyang is mentioned again in chapter sixteen. It seems that after Wang Chongyang won the first Huashan tournament he met a Buddhist monk at Songshan. He had a drinking contest with this monk and lost. The bet was if Wang Chongyang lost, the monk would be allowed to read the Scriptures of Nine Negations.

References

* "Daoism Handbook," Livia Kohn, editor. (Handbook of Oriental Studies Section Four, Volume 14.) Brill Academic Publishers, 2000.
* "The Taoist Manual: An Illustrated Guide Applying Taoism to Daily Life," Brock Silvers. Sacred Mountain Press 2005.

External links

* [http://www.taoism.org.hk/religious-studies/0101/gb/art4.htm 王喆生平事迹考述] (Chinese)