Ge Xuan - Literary Contributions

Literary Contributions

One of Ge Xuan's literary contributions was "The Classic of Purity," in which he quoted, "The Inner Spirit of people loves purity, but the mind of people is often rebellious". (This book was published in a poetic paraphrase by Aleister Crowley (1875-1947), the infamous British magician, who claimed to be the reincarnation of "Ko Yuen" as he transliterated it, following Legge.) The reason why people do not possess the competence to achieve this, is because their minds are not clear and their desires are unrestrained 6  . Ge Xuan claimed that desires are what bind individuals to become selfish and dishonest. Furthermore, he also quoted, that our minds create illusions which make us suffer throughout life. Ge Xuan stated that if we want to gain control of ourselves, we must first control our wandering mind. Ge Xuan, was recognized as the true Supreme Immortal when his scripts were passed onto his great-nephew Ge Hong. Although Ge Hong began composing the Ling-Pao Ching ("Classic of the Sacred Jewel") about 379 CE, he claimed that they had been first revealed to his own ancestor, Ge Xuan (Robinet (1997), p. 80). Ge Xuan wrote a book in which his notions are uncovered. Furthermore, in Daoism, Ge Xuan is called "the Perfect Sovereign and Protector" in Correspondence with the eternal Dao (Bokenkamp (2008), p. 444). In addition, common individuals address him as the "Immortal Elder Ge of the Supreme Ultimate." Ge Hong alleged the Ling-Pao Ching ("Classic of the Sacred Jewel") at about 379 CE. Ge Xuan's scripts were given the recognition because of his nephew's success in writing.

The Immortal Lord Ge Xuan received texts from Zuo Yuanfang, who himself received them from a divine man that came to him while he was devoting himself to the practices of the purification of thought (Jingsi) on Mount Tianzhu. Then Ge Xuan passed "The Book of The Nine Elixirs" on to his great-nephew Ge Hong. The Lingbao account for Ge Xuan endured in which an anonymous preface written during the Six Dynasties' period to the Heshang Gong annotated version of the Dao De Jing, the "Preface and Secret Instructions" are attributed to him. According to the Biography of Transcendent Duke Ge of the Great Ultimate, composed by Zhu Chuo in 1377 stated that almost all revealed literature in early Taoism might be retraced to Ge Xuan 5 . However, Ge Xuan was thought to become immortal after his body had vanished.