Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology: Part 5: Spagyrical Discovery and Invention: Physiological Alchemy

600 Pages·1983·8.71 MB·English

by  Joseph Needham (author)

THE PICTURE OF THE TAOIST GENII PRINTED ON THE COVER
of this book is part of a painted temple scroll, recent but traditional, given to
Mr Brian Harland in Szechuan province (1946). Concerning these four divinities,
of respectable rank in the 'Taoist bureaucracy, the following particulars have been
handed down. The title of the first of the four signifies 'Heavenly Prince', that
of the other three ' 3lysterious Commander '.
At the top, on the left, is Liu Thien Chiin, Comptroller-General of Crops and
Weather. Before his deification (so it was said) he was a rain-making magician
and weather forecaster named Liu Chun, born in the Chin dynasty about +340.
Among his attributes may be seen the sun and moon, and a measuring-rod or
carpenter's square. The two great luminaries imply the making of the calendar, so
important for a primarily agricultural society, the efforts, ever renewed, to reconcile
celestial periodicities. The carpenter's square is no ordinary tool, but the gnomon
for measuring the lengths of the sun's solstitial shadows. The Comptroller-General
also carries a bell because in ancient and medieval times there was thought to be
a close connection between calendrical calculations and the arithmetical acoustics
of bells and pitch-pipes.
At the top, on the right, is 1f'i.n Yrtan Shrtai, Intendant of the Spiritual Oficials
of the Sacred Mountain, Thai Shan. IIe was taken to be an incarnation of one of
the Hour-Presidents (Chia Shen), i.e. tutelary deities of the twelve cyclical characters
(see Vol. 4, pt. 2, p. 440). During his earthly pilgrimage his name was Huan Tzu-Yii
+
and he was a scholar and astronomer in the Later IIan (b. 142). He is seen
holding an armillary ring.
Relow, on the left, is Kou Yunn Shttai, Assistant Secretary of State in the Ministry
of Thunder. FIe is therefore a late emanation of a very ancient god, Lei Kung.
Hefore he became deified he was I-Isin Hsing, a poor woodcuttcr, but no doubt an
incarnation of the spirit of the constellation Kou-Chhen (the Angular Arranger),
part of the group of stars which we know as Ursa llinor. I-Ie is equipped with
hammer and chisel.
Below, on the right, is Pi Yuan Shrtai, Commander of the Lightning, with his
flashing sword, a deity with distinct alchemical and cosmological interests. According
to tradition, in his early life he was a countr);man whose name was Thien Hua.
Together with the colleague on his right, he controlled the Spirits of the Five
Directions.
Such is the legendary folklore of common men canonised by popular acclamation.
An interesting scroll, of no great artistic merit, destined to decorate a temple wall,
to be looked upon by humble people, it symbolises something which this book has
to say. Chinese art and literature have been so profuse, Chinese mythological
imagery so fertile, that the \Vest has often missed other aspects, perhaps more
important, of Chinese civilisation. Here the graduated scale of Liu Chun, at first
sight unexpected in this setting, reminds us of the ever-present theme of quanti-
tative measurement in Chinese culture; there were rain-gauges already in the Sung
(+1 2th century) and sliding calipers in the Han (+ 1st). The armillary ring of
Huan Tzu-Yu bears witness that Naburiannu and Hipparchus, al-Naqqssh and
Tycho, had worthy counterparts in China. The tools of I Isin I-Ising symbolise that
great empirical tradition which informed the work of Chinese artisans and tech-
nicians all through the ages.
SCIENCE AND CIVILISATION
I N CHINA
A certain knowledge of Eastern religions and philosophies aids one's intellect and intuition
in understanding the ideas (of inner alchemy), partly at least, just as one can fathom the
paradoxes of primitive beliefs in terms of 'ethnology' or of the 'comparative history of
religion'. But this is the Western way of hiding one's own heart under the cloak of so-called
scientific understanding. We do it partly because of the 'mis6rable vanite des savants', which
fears and rejects with horror any sign of living sympathy, and partly because an understanding
that reaches the feelings might allow contact with the foreign spirit to become a serious
experience.. .. Science only works harm when taken as an end in itself. Scientific method must
serve; it errs when it usurps a throne.
C. G. Jung, in the introduction to his commentary on
Richard Wilhelm's translation of Thai I Chin Hua Tsung Chih
Entwachsest du dir selbst und aller Kreatur
So wird dir eingeimpft die giittliche Natur.
+ +
Angelus Silesius (Joh. Scheffler, 1624 to 1677). Cherubinische Wandersmann, I1
The mystic does not deny the body, but uses it as a necessary instrument of salvation.
G. Tucci, in Theory and Practice of the Mandala
The essence of all things is in our bodies. When thou shalt know thine own body, thy own
foundation will be firm. Amrita-ratniivali
Ever keep Ithaca in your mind,
Your return thither is your goal.
But do not hasten at all your voyage,
Better that it last for many years.
All full of years at length you anchor at your isle,
Rich with all you gained upon the way,
Do not expect Ithaca to give you riches.
Ithaca gave you your fair voyage
Without her you would not have ventured on the way.
But she has no more to give you.
And if you find Ithaca a poor place
She has not mocked you.
You have become so wise, so full of experience
That you should understand already what
These Ithacas mean.
C. V. Cavafy, 'Ithaca'
Turn back, 0 Man, forswear thy foolish ways,
Old now is Earth, and none may count her days,
Yet thou, her child, whose head is crowned with flame,
Still wilt not hear thine inner god proclaim -
'Turn back, 0 Man, forswear thy foolish ways'.
Clifford Bax

SCIENCE A N D
C I V I L I S A T I O N I N
C H I N A
BY
JOSEPH NEEDHAM,
F.R.s., F.B.A.
SO\lETI\lE XIASTER OF GOSV1I.I.E ASD CAIL'S COI.I,EC;E. CA\lRRIDGE.
DIRECTOR OF THE EAST ASIAS HISTORY OF SCIESCE 1.IRRARY. CA\lRRIDGE
HOSORARY PROFESSOR OF ACADE\IIA SlSlC.4
With the collaboration of
LU GWEI-DJEN,
PH.D.
FEI.I.O\V OF RORISSOS CO1.I.EC.E. CAMRRIDGE
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR OF THE EAST ASlAS HISTORY OF SCIESCE 1.IRRARY. CAXIRRIDGE
VOLUME 5
CHEMISTRY AND CHEMICAL
TECHNOLOGY
PART V: SPAGYRICAL DISCOVERY AND
INVENTION: PHYSIOLOGICAL ALCHEMY
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
CAMRRIDGE
LONDON. NEW YORK. NEW ROCHELLE
MELBOURNE. SYDNEY
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 IRP
32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA
10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Melbourne 3166, Australia
@ Cambridge University Press 1983
First published 1983
Reprinted 1986
Printed in Great Britain at the
University Press, Cambridge
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Needham, Joseph
Science and civilisation in China.
Vol. 5: Chemistry and chemical technology. Part
5 : Spagyrical discovery and invention:
physiological alchemy
I. Science - China - History
2. Technology - China - History
I. Title 11. Lu Gwei-djen
509'.51 ~127.C5~4- 4723
formerly Professor of Comparative Religion at the Nanking
Theological Seminary
a master in the Tao
-remembering our talks in the
tower of Hua-Hsi University-
at Chhingtu
1943-1 944
and in memory of
RORERT van GULIK
formerly Minister Plenipotentiary in the Netherlands
F m ~Sper vice
a master in the Tao
-remembering our talks from
Rasra to Chungking-
this volume is dedicated
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations . . page xi
List of Tables . xviii
.
List of Abbreviations xix
.
Author's Note xxiii
33 ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY (continued) Page 1
The Outer and the Inner Macrobiogens; the Elixir and the Enchymoma, p. I
(I) Esoteric traditions in European alchemy, p. I
(2) Chinese physiological alchemy; the theory of the enchyrnoma (nei tan)
and the three primary vitalities, p. 20
(i) The quest for material immortality, p. 28
(ii) Rejuvenation by the union of opposites; an in vivo
reaction, p. 34
(iii) The Hsiu Chen books and the Huang Thingcanons, p. 67
(3) The historical development of physiological alchemy, p. 129
(4) The techniques of macrobiogenesis, p. 142
(i) Respiration control, aerophagy, salivary deglutition and the
circulation of the chhi, p. 142
(ii) Gymnastics, massage and physiotherapeutic
exercise, p. 15 4
(iii) Meditation and mental concentration, p. 179
(iv) Phototherapeutic procedures, p. I 8 I
(v) Sexuality and the role of theories of generation, p. I 84
(5) The borderline between proto-chemical (wai tan) and physiological (nei
tan) alchemy, p. 2 I 8
(6) Late enchyrnoma literature of Ming and Chhing, p. 229
(i) The "Secret of the Golden Flower" unveil'd, p. 243
(7) Chinese physiological alchemy (Nei Tan) and the Indian Yoga, Tantric
and Hathayoga systems,p . 257
(i) Originalities and influences; similarities and
differences,p . 280
(8) Conclusions; Nei Tan as proto-biochemistry, p. 288
(k) The enchyrnoma in the test-tube; medieval preparations of urinary steroid
and protein hormones, p. 301
(I) The sexual organs in Chinese medicine, p. 302
(2) Proto-endocrinology in Chinese medical theory, p. 304
(3) The empirical background, p. 307
(4) The main iatro-chemical preparations, P. 3 I 2
(5) Comments and variant processes, p. 322
(6) The history of the technique, p. 33 I
BIBLIOGRAPHIES . 338
Abbreviations, p. 3 39
+
A. Chinese and Japanese books before I 800, p. 347
Concordance for Tao Tsang books and tractates, p. 399
+
B. Chinese and Japanese books and journal articles since I 800, p. 402
C. Books and journal articles in Western languages, p. 424
GENERAL INDEX . 515
-
Table of Chinese Dynasties . 563
Summary of the Contents of Volume 5 . 564
Romanisation Conversion Table . 566
LIST O F ILLUSTRATIONS
Psychological projection in Western allegorical alchemy; the idea
of parricide hypostatised into chemical reactions .
Psychological projection in Western allegorical alchemy; the idea
of incest hypostatised into chemical reactions .
Psychological projection in Western allegorical alchemy;
calcination imaged as the breaking-up of the dried dead bones
.
of the royal hermaphrodite
Psychological projection in Western allegorical alchemy; sexual
union as symbol of chemical reaction .
Drawing of a plant often eaten by adepts seeking prolongevity or
material immortalitv, the shu .
Drawing of a fungus often eaten by adepts seeking prolongevity
or material immortality, the fu ling .
Knowledge of Nature as a way of salvation; a Buddhist arhat .
A scholarly adept meditating on the inner and the outer
.
enchymomas
Portrait of the physician Sun I-Khuei, prefixed to his Chhih Shui
Hsiian Chu of + I 596 .
Emblematical illustration showing an adept holding the three
interlinked primary vitalities, shen, chhi and ching .
The eight trigrams in the Fu-Hsi arrangement, from Chang
Chieh-Pin's LA Ching Fu I ( + 1624). ch. 1, p. 2h .
The eight trigrams in the Win Wang arrangement, from the LA
+
Ching Fu I ( I 624), ch. I,p . qb .
The chart called Ming Ching chih Thu (Bright Mirror of
+
Physiological Alchemy) drawn up by Phkng Hsiao in 947 .
An illustration from Hsing Ming Kuei Chih (ch. I, p. 37h)
showing the symbolical animals of the four directions
surrounding and influencing the bodily reaction-vessel in
.
which the enchymoma is be~ngp repared
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Image of Mei-Than Tsang Wang, one of the 500 Lohan at the
.
temple of Pao-Kuang Ssu, near Hsintu in Szechuan
An adept meditates upon the inversion of the trigrams Khan and
.
Li
An illustration from the Hsiu Chen Thai Chi Him Yuan Thu
(Treatise on the Analogy of the Regeneration of the Primary
Vitalities with the Cosmogony of the Supreme Pole and
+
Primitive Chaos), written by Hsiao Tao-Tshun about I 100
Another diagram from the same work (p. qa,b ) in which the chhi
circulation cycle is paralleled by the diurnal rotation of day and
. .
night, and with the lunation
-
Another diagram of Hsiao Tao-Tshun's (pp I I b, I 2a), showing
the relative positions of the six organs concerned with
.
physiological alchemy
'Eclipse' diagram from the Hsiu Chen Thai Chi Hun Yuan Thu
.
(~~.15b,16a)
The circulation of pneumata (chht? and juices through the nine
(1)
.
organs
A diagram from the Hsiu Chen Thai Chi Hun Yuan Chih HGan
+
Thu (TTr47) written by Chin Chhiian Tzu about 830 (p. I b)
A similar diagram (p. 5 b) of rejuvenation, i.e. the re-casting and
.
re-creating of the bodily form (lien hsing)
Another diagram (p. qa,b ) showing the successful formation of a
.
greater and a lesser anablastemic enchymoma
An 'eclipse' diagram from the same work (p. 6 b) expounding the
.
theory of perfected equalisation in enchymoma formation
The enchyrnoma in all its glory (p. 7a) surrounded by the archaei
.
of the organs
One of the 500 Lohan at the Pao-Kuang Ssu temple near Hsintu
.
in Szechuan (orig. photo. 1972)
A fresco of Lohan at the Fo-Kuang Ssu temple in the foothills of
Wu-thai Shan in Shansi .
The 'divine embryo' or enchyrnoma seen again in an image of
one of the 500 Lohan at the Pao-Kuang Ssu temple near
.
.Hsintu in Szechuan