04-18-2022, 08:31 PM
Yes, you are right. Neijing Tu has been a typical Wudang production in the long history by many Taoist alchemy practitioners' collective work.
The Neijing tu laterally depicts a human body (resembling either meditator or fetus) as a microcosm of nature – an "inner landscape" with mountains, rivers, paths, forests, and stars. Joseph Needham coins the term "microsomography" and describes the Neijing tu as "much more fanciful and poetical" than previous Daoist illustrations. In a metaphorical way, it tells many secrets for internal kungfu cultivation – kungfu and internal alchemy included – together with some scenes presented when the usual function of heart-mind gradually comes to a standstill. Taoist internal alchemy stays always at the core of internal style kungfu practice as well as hard-natured kungfu practice (say, iron palm, iron sand palm, iron body, etc). Therefore, there circulates the popular saying: "You got nothing but an empty bamboo basket if you only practice kungfu without any inner energy cultivation." (练武不练功，到老一场空）
The textual descriptions include names of zangfu organs, two poems attributed to Lü Dongbin (born ca. 798 CE, one of the Eight Immortals), and quotations from the Huangting jing 黃庭經 "Yellow Court Scripture".
The Neijing image of a mountain with crags on the skull and spinal column elaborates upon the "body-as-mountain" metaphor, first recorded in 1227 CE. The head shows Kunlun Mountains, upper dantian "cinnabar field", Laozi, Bodhidharma, and two circles for the eyes (labelled "sun" and "moon"). The flanking poem explains.
The white-headed old man's eyebrows hang down to earth;
The blue-eyed foreign monk's arms support heaven.
If you aspire to this mysticism;
You will acquire its secret.
Chinese constellations figure prominently. The heart depicts Niulang 牛郎 "the cowherd" "Altair" holding the Beidou 北斗 "Northern Dipper" "Big Dipper". Together with his archetypal lover Zhinü 織女 "the weaver girl" "Vega", they propel qi up to the tracheal Twelve-Storied Pagoda. The liver and gall bladder are a forest, the stomach is a granary, and the intestines caption reads "the iron ox ploughs the field where coins of gold are sown" referring to the Elixir of life. At base of the spine are treadmill waterwheels (an early Chinese invention) being run by two children representing yin and yang.
The Neijing tu laterally depicts a human body (resembling either meditator or fetus) as a microcosm of nature – an "inner landscape" with mountains, rivers, paths, forests, and stars. Joseph Needham coins the term "microsomography" and describes the Neijing tu as "much more fanciful and poetical" than previous Daoist illustrations. In a metaphorical way, it tells many secrets for internal kungfu cultivation – kungfu and internal alchemy included – together with some scenes presented when the usual function of heart-mind gradually comes to a standstill. Taoist internal alchemy stays always at the core of internal style kungfu practice as well as hard-natured kungfu practice (say, iron palm, iron sand palm, iron body, etc). Therefore, there circulates the popular saying: "You got nothing but an empty bamboo basket if you only practice kungfu without any inner energy cultivation." (练武不练功，到老一场空）
The textual descriptions include names of zangfu organs, two poems attributed to Lü Dongbin (born ca. 798 CE, one of the Eight Immortals), and quotations from the Huangting jing 黃庭經 "Yellow Court Scripture".
The Neijing image of a mountain with crags on the skull and spinal column elaborates upon the "body-as-mountain" metaphor, first recorded in 1227 CE. The head shows Kunlun Mountains, upper dantian "cinnabar field", Laozi, Bodhidharma, and two circles for the eyes (labelled "sun" and "moon"). The flanking poem explains.
The white-headed old man's eyebrows hang down to earth;
The blue-eyed foreign monk's arms support heaven.
If you aspire to this mysticism;
You will acquire its secret.
Chinese constellations figure prominently. The heart depicts Niulang 牛郎 "the cowherd" "Altair" holding the Beidou 北斗 "Northern Dipper" "Big Dipper". Together with his archetypal lover Zhinü 織女 "the weaver girl" "Vega", they propel qi up to the tracheal Twelve-Storied Pagoda. The liver and gall bladder are a forest, the stomach is a granary, and the intestines caption reads "the iron ox ploughs the field where coins of gold are sown" referring to the Elixir of life. At base of the spine are treadmill waterwheels (an early Chinese invention) being run by two children representing yin and yang.