Saints & Sages Part VII:
張三豐
Zhang San Feng
(1247——)
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福自我求，命自我造。
-张三丰
Happiness is sought out from [within] me,
Life Destiny is produced from [within] me.
-Zhang San Feng
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Zhang San Feng’s name was a Han Chinese, style name Jun Bao[君宝], another of his names was Quan Yi [全一], or Complete Oneness. His Daoist appellation was San Feng [三丰]. He was a folk hero and utmost revered in the martial arts world. He is purported to be the primogenitor of an internal martial arts style, Tai Ji Quan, a martial arts science magnate and the founder of the Dragon form calligraphy [龙行书法].
Zhang San Feng gathered several sects’ extinct knowledge in his body, he resisted the Yuan Dynasty, Mongol invaders, and fought plundering bandits. In martial arts circles his reputation was illustrious. In regards to the Elixir Dao, he completed the process of Refinement of the Void and the Unification with the Dao [炼虚合道], form and Spirit completely marvelous, and was a Daoist Realized One at the end of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming dynasty. He resided as Daoist on the Wudang Mountains, is the progenitor of the Wudang Zhang San Feng Sect. In true history it is recorded that San Feng was born in the seventh year of Chun You [淳佑] reign period [1247] of emperor Li Zong [理宗] in Liao Dong. At 14 he passed the civil and martial imperial examinations as top scorer, at 18 he held a government office of the political subdivision county magistrate. In 1280 he resigned from office, renounced and cultivated the Dao. He formally became the disciple of the Fire Dragon Realized One [火龙真人].
The rulers of successive dynasties all extremely revered Zhang San Feng, and in the Ming and the Qing dynasties many emperors sought him out, hoping to attain his true transmissions. Zhu Yuan Zhang [朱元璋], or emperor Hong Wu, established the Ming Dynasty. Because Zhang San Feng had formerly helped him to seize Jiang Shan, after he had ascended the throne, he sought out Zhang San Feng many times. Emperor Yong Le, also known as Zhu Di, boasted to be the transformed body of the True Warrior Great Emperor [真武大帝].That is why Zhu Di dispatched the Ministry of Appointments’ high officials to command 300 000 soldiers to greatly renovate Wudang Palace, the expenses reaching millions and millions in count:
北建故宫，南修武当。
[In] the North erecting the Imperial Palace,
[in] the South repairing Wu Dang.
The court issued an imperial edict to bestow the title of Daoist Ancestry of Utmost Flourish [dao zong ji cheng 道宗极盛] onto Mount Long Hu [龙虎山], Mount Wu Dang [武当山], Mount Hua [华山], Mount Jiu Hua [九华],Mount Mao [茅山]and Mount Luo Fu [罗浮山]. Thereby fulfilling Zhang San Feng’s legendary prophecy:
武当大兴600年。
Wudang will prosper greatly in 600 years.
Zhang San Feng’s literary working encompass《Discussion on the Great》[da dao lun大道论]《Straight 
Speeches on the Mysterious Mechanism》[xuan ji zhi jian玄机直讲],《Complete Collections of the Mysterious Discourse》[xuan tan quan ji玄谭全集],《Treatise on the Mysterious Essentials》[xuan yao pian玄要篇] and《The Rootless Tree》[wu gen shu无根树]. The following passage originates from the opening chapter The Utmost Dao [zhi dao zhang至道章] in the《Great Discussion on the Great Dao》[da dao lun大道论]:
《西昇經》云：道深甚奧。又云：至道深妙，知者不言。當火水焚蕩無遺，我大道真常不動；值天地綱紀隳裂，我大道湛寂凝然。莊生考算數，而五載莫窮，推陰陽而十二年固。
《The Scripture of the Western Ascension 》[1] states:
The Dao is profound [and] extremely mysterious. It also says: The Utmost Dao is profound and marvelous, knowing is not speaking [2]. When Fire and Water happen to burn and wash away without omission, my Great Dao’s Truth constantly does not move; [When] Heaven and Earth happen to crack open [and] fall apart. My Great Dao is clear, silent, congealed and natural. Zhuang [Zi] brought forth, verified and counted the numbers, moreover, in five years there was none destitute, pushing Yin & Yang and further twelve years were consolidated.
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[1]: A full translation is available by Livia Kohn《Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of Western Ascension》.
[2] This sentence is reminiscent of the《Dao De Jing》chapter 56:
知者不言，言者不知。
Those who know do not speak and those who speak do not you.
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Post-Scriptum: This article will appear in the appendix of Purple Cloud Press’ forthcoming publication of 《The 49 Barriers of the Cultivation of the Dao》 by Xing De, a manual for refining Inner Nature based on Liu Yiming’s 50 Barriers
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