Метафорические истолкования алхимического языка в позднедаосском тексте (по «Лун мэнь синь фа», XVII в.)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the history of the hermeneutics of the language of Taoist alchemy. Traditional Taoist practices, which in European scientific literature are usually called «Taoist alchemy», are divided into two types in Chinese culture, namely, wai dan («external alchemy») and nei dan («internal alchemy»). Both branches are united by the declared goal (achievement of «immortality») and spe­cific alchemical terminology and imagery. The article deals with the metaphorical interpretation of the terms and expressions of the alchemical language in the late Taoist text. The main source text is the text of the 17th century Lun men xin fa (The Law of the Heart-Consciousness [according to the Tradition] Longmen), which outlined the views of Wang Changyue (Kunyang-zi), master of the Taoist school Quanzhen/Longmen. A notable feature of Wang Changyue's sermons is that he in­terprets expressions typical of the language of the Taoist, and in particular, the al­chemical tradition, through the language of the Buddhist tradition. In the later pe­riod, as can be seen in the text under study, the expressions and terms of internal alchemy, metaphorical in nature, underwent a secondary metaphorical interpreta­tion. It is called «secondary» for the reason that the language of inner alchemy was already metaphorical in nature. The article examines two examples of the interpre­tation of the alchemical language in the sermons of Wang Changyue. The article also provides a historical and philosophical assessment of the interpretation of the alchemical language proposed by Wang Changyue. This interpretation represents a spiritualized and “Buddhized” version of Taoism. The article includes fragments of Long men xin fa, first translated in Russian, illustrating the observations of the author of the article.