Yellow Court Classic

The Yellow Court Classic ("Huang Ting Jing", 黄庭经), a Chinese Taoist meditation text, was received from the unknown source (according to a lore, as a Heavenly Scripture from the Highest Purity Realm) by Lady Wei Huacun, one of the founders of Highest Purity Tradition (Shangqing, 上清), in the 288 CE. The first reference to the text appears in the archives of the famous alchemist and collector of Taoist texts, Ge Hong (葛洪) in the 4th century CE. The manuscript comprises the two parts, the External (Wai, 外) and Internal (Nei, 内) Scenery Scripture. All characters of the shorter (100 verses) text of the External Scripture are fully contained in the longer (435 verses) text of the Internal Scripture. Together, both of the texts are also referred to (within the manuscript itself) as "Jade Book" or "Jade Writing". Fourth century “Sage of Calligraphy”, Wang Xizhi (王羲之) presented the full text of the Internal Scenery Scripture of the Yellow Court on the stone tables in his classic artwork, a well-known masterpiece of the Chinese calligraphy . The literal meaning of the “Yellow Court” refers to the central area of the Emperor’s Castle where the Emperor and Ministers gather to try to understand the will of the Heavens and properly regulate the businesses of the Kingdom. The Yellow color indicates Earth element that is central in the Five Element (Wu Xing, 五行) arrangement. The four sides of the Castle Architecture symbolize the other four elements (Metal, Water, Wood and Fire), while the Heaven symbolizes the Spirit. The overall picture presents an allegory to a harmony between human body, particularly the spleen (the Earth element of Yellow color, central of the Five Organs) which is associated the lower reservoir of qi in the body (Dantian, 丹田), and Nature. The text of the Yellow Court scriptures provides meditation instructions for the practitioner’s alignment with the Universe and its Spiritual Laws and Forces (symbolized by “Heaven”), in the order to regulate and improve functions and processes of the body (symbolized by “Kingdom”).