五氣朝元=the combination of five types of qi; 三花聚頂=the three phases of transmutation; 刀圭入口= the absorption of inner elixir; 鍊神=spirit; 養氣=qi; 盜天=stealing qi from heaven
Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism were merged by the intellectuals in the late period of Ming dynasty. Many Confucian scholars researched the theory of Vijñānavāda (唯識) or neidan (內丹), so they received a lot of practical experience. Wang Fuzhi was influenced by the trend of the period,so he paid much attention to the practical theory and obtained much religious experience. This became the basis of the notes to the far-off Journey (遠遊), which is a section of the famous anthology of poetry called Chu Ci (楚辭). The Daoism knowledge behind the notes clearly represents the neidan theory of the South school (南宗), and they are the best materials to study Wang's neidan theory if researchers compare them to other more obscure works that he writes, such as Yu ku ci (愚鼓詞). Therefore, this paper takes the notes as the foundation that lets us understand his thoughts about neidan and tries to excavate the hidden meaning that has been ignored. In the past, a few of researchers were devoted to investigating this aera, but most of them merely explained the neidan terms that appeared in Wang's notes. They have not discussed the theoretical structure of his neidan thoughts or the distinguishing features. In short, they do not propose the systematic statement. This paper indicates that Wang's neidan theory comes from the South school although he has origional interpretation. On the whole, he accepts 'the combination of five types of qi' (五氣朝元) of the South school and takes it as the basic schema. Although he puts emphasis on 'the three phases of transmutation' (三花聚頂) and 'the absorption of inner elixir' (刀圭入口), he sieves out 'the metamophsis of semen into qi' (鍊精化氣) and 'the metamophsis of spirit into dao' (鍊神合道). He exclusively adopts 'the metamophsis of qi into spirit' (鍊氣化神) and its practical techniques as his theorical center. In other words, he eventually views neidan theory from the Confucianism and de-emphasizes the characteristics of it, such as sexual techniques and longevity. His notes focus on the physiological techniques that the Confucianism has relatively lacked and point out the leading principles of respiratory training and meditation. These concepts correspond with what he has emphasized, namely qi. In short, Wang's neidan theory begins with the purification of physical qi, which means the yin must transmute into yang, and ends up in the absorption of natural qi, which means the natural energy converts into human spirit. This neidan system is centered on the conscious disciplines which pursue the connection between human and heaven.
