Great Clarity

Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China

Fabrizio Pregadio

• Publisher: Stanford University Press
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9780804767736
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Asian Religions

This is the first book to examine extensively the religious aspects of Chinese alchemy. Its main focus is the relation of alchemy to the Daoist traditions of the early medieval period (third to sixth centuries). It shows how alchemy contributed to and was tightly integrated into the elaborate body of doctrines and practices that Daoists built at that time, from which Daoism as we know it today evolved. The book also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices. It contains full translations of three important medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries, making available for the first time in English the gist of the early Chinese alchemical corpus.

Part One

The Heaven of Great Clarity and Its Revelations

1

THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHINESE ALCHEMY AND THE WAY OF THE GREAT CLARITY

The origins of alchemy is a fascinating subject that has engaged the attention of several generations of scholars. In a survey of sources and studies of the Western tradition, Robert Halleux has pointed out the wide diversity of opinions that exist in this respect. As he shows, the debate among scholars has concerned not only the dating of the sources, but especially what constitutes alchemy, how it differs from metallurgy and proto-chemistry, and whether the earliest extant sources provide definite evidence on their origins and background. Due to the remarkable variety of views concerning these issues, there is no agreement on when and where the arts of the elixirs first took shape, and on what role was played in this context by the speculative and ritual features that have characterized alchemy wherever it has developed.¹

In other words, part of the issue lies exactly with the definition of alchemy. The characterization of the arts of the elixirs suggested by Halleux—“an aggregate of practices and speculations related to the transmutation of metals”—is straightforward but points to the complexity of the questions that require attention.² On the one hand, the techniques for refining and transmuting minerals and metals do not constitute alchemy per se, as they do not necessarily imply the existence of a doctrinal and soteriological background. More precisely, this background exists in the first place, but for a variety of reasons the techniques may come to be transmitted separately from it. Within the Chinese tradition, this is true not only of the proto-chemical techniques of waidan, but also of the physiological techniques of neidan; to give one example that pertains to the latter form of alchemy, one of its greatest representatives, Chen Zhixu (1289—after 1335), emphatically rejects the understanding of alchemy as consisting only of its practices when he writes: “It has been said that the way of cultivation and refinement consists of the techniques (shu) of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi. No more of this nonsense! This is the Great Way of the Golden Elixir, and it cannot be called a technique.”³

On the other hand, the doctrinal principles at the basis of the compounding of the elixirs are shared by alchemy with other traditions and disciplines, and the compounding of the elixirs is not the only means of access to them. In Chinese alchemy, this is clearly visible in the fact that the alchemical process, either waidan or neidan, is rooted in doctrinal notions that originate elsewhere—specifically, within Daoism—and of which alchemy represents one of the applications. Alchemy, in other words, cannot be defined either by its techniques or by its doctrinal foundations alone but rather, using the formulation suggested by Halleux, by the unique relationship it establishes between “practices and speculations,” or between techniques and doctrines. This relationship can take several forms, including some in which the compounding of the elixir is meant in an entirely metaphoric way.

The issues referred to above are especially relevant in relation to the earliest stages of the history of alchemy in China, those with which we are concerned here. The limited amount of evidence is not the only impediment to research in this area, for the available documents share the ambiguity of the Western sources and the resulting variety of possible interpretations. Sources ranging from historical and archaeological documents to mythological and hagiographic accounts yield some information on the quest for immortality and the knowledge of proto-chemical techniques in pre-imperial and early imperial times. At a closer inspection, however, very few of them are found to be directly relevant to alchemy proper; most consist of legendary accounts such as those on medicines of immortality that spontaneously grow in remote places, or refer to artisanal techniques for refining metals and minerals. Some of these legends and tales are likely to descend, in the first place, from the same background that also gave rise to alchemy; no early document, however, makes the link explicit. We do not know, moreover, how secret transmissions and founding myths of the early guilds of metallurgical artisans may have influenced the rise of the arts of the elixirs.⁴ We should be ready, finally, to accept the possibility that although alchemy is always characterized by a practice based on doctrinal principles, the earliest extant sources focus only on the former aspect and provide no more than a few hints on the second aspect, which was the subject of oral transmission.

The Issue of the Origins

While the scarcity and ambiguity of the available data suggest caution, the attempt to fix dates, identify beginners, and distinguish evolutionary stages has often resulted in the blurring of distinctions between the compounding of the elixirs and other ideas or techniques. Two examples are particularly relevant in this concern.

THE CASE OF ZOU YAN

A major instance of ambiguity in the historical data and their interpretation concerns Zou Yan (ca. 350—270 BCE), who is traditionally considered to be the founder of the School of Yin and Yang (yinyang jia). Although some scholars in the past have speculated on his role in the origins of waidan, Zou Yan’s biography does not contain any allusion to alchemy, and no text on the elixirs has ever been attributed to him.⁵ The short comments that follow the catalogue of Yin and Yang writings in the History of the Former Han Dynasty (Hanshu; ca. 90 CE) state that those texts dealt with astrological and calendrical predictions. Consistently with this indication, the received fragments of works attributed to Zou are mainly concerned with an early variety of the system of the Five Agents (wuxing) and its application to the theory of dynastic succession, known as the “Cycle of the Five Virtues” (wude zhi yun) or the “Master Cycle of Yin and Yang” (yinyang zhuyun).⁶

Zou Yan’s alleged relation to alchemy is largely based on an often quoted passage of Sima Qian’s Records of the Historian (Shiji; ca. 90 BCE). This passage describes Zou as the inspirer of some fangshi (masters of the methods) who advised various rulers to search for the medicines of immortality on Penglai and the other mythical islands in the eastern seas off the coast of Shandong:

From the time of Kings Wei (Weiwang, r. 334—320 BCE) and Xuan (Xuanwang, r. 319—301 BCE) of Qi, the followers of Master Zou discussed and wrote about the cycle of the Five Virtues. When the Prince of Qin became emperor, people from Qi submitted [that theory] to the throne, and the First Emperor adopted it. However, Song Wuji, Zhengbo Qiao, Chong Shang, and most recently Xianmen Gao, all of whom came from the state of Yan, practiced methods of immortality (xiandao) and for the release from the form through dissolution and transformation (xingjie xiaohua) by means of services offered to spirits and divinities. While Zou Yan had been famous among feudal lords for [his theory of] the Master Cycle of Yin and Yang, the fangshi from the coasts of Yan and Qi transmitted his arts without understanding them. Since that time, those who perform flattering and deceptive practices have been countless. (Shiji, 28.1368—69)

Some modern scholars have seen in the term “dissolution and transformation” (or “decomposition and transformation”) an allusion to alchemical methods. Even if this indication is correct, Sima Qian neither states nor implies that Zou Yan was an alchemist; his words make clear that, in his opinion, the fangshi had misinterpreted Zou Yan’s teaching. The term “dissolution and transformation,” however, is not attested in relation to the arts of the elixirs. Fu Qian, the second-century commentator of the Records of the Historian, states that it refers to shijie, or “release from the corpse,” one of the Daoist practices for leaving the world as an immortal.⁷ This gloss deserves attention, for the mention of “dissolution and transformation” together with “release from the form” (xingjie), and with “services offered to gods and demons,” suggests that this term refers to thaumaturgic methods for decomposing and transforming one’s form (xing). Methods for achieving “release from the form” by breaking it up and multiplying it, or by dissolving it and hiding it, are known from several sources as part of the extremely wide and varied notion of “metamorphosis” (bianhua), of which “release from the corpse” is an instance.⁸ Fu Qian’s gloss thus supports the conclusion that the passage of the Records of the Historian quoted above has no relation to waidan.

As evidence of historical connections between Zou Yan and alchemy, some scholars have also referred to a passage in the History of the Former Han Dynasty that mentions techniques ascribed to him. The following is Joseph Needham’s translation of the passage:

[Liu An, the Prince of] Huainan, had in his pillow (for safe-keeping) certain writings entitled Arts from the Garden of Secrets of the Great Treasure (Hongbao yuanbi shu). These writings told about the holy immortals and their arts of conjuring spirits (shi guiwu) and making gold, together with Zou Yan’s technique for prolonging life by a method of repeated (transmutation) (chongdao).⁹ (Hanshu, 36.1928)

While this passage shows that Zou Yan, in the hundred and fifty yea...