Tao Hongjing Research Articles

Tao Hongjing's Medical Health Preservation Philosophy

In the 21st century, the medical paradigm has transitioned from "disease medicine" to "health medicine," with the developmental trend shifting from "treating diseases" to maintaining a "healthy" state. Tao Hongjing, representing the field of health preservation studies during the Southern and Northern Dynasties in ancient China, contributed distinctive principles and methods to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) health preservation, constituting a crucial aspect of TCM health preservation academic thought. His concise and cost-effective health preservation theories and methods encapsulate profound health preservation insights and philosophical contemplation, earning commendation from successive generations of medical practitioners and holding remarkable research value. Against the backdrop of implementing the "Healthy China" strategy and advocating "universal health," Tao Hongjing's health preservation philosophy holds significant reference value for enhancing human health awareness and promoting harmonious social development, providing strong practical guidance. This paper focuses on Tao Hongjing's medical health preservation philosophy, utilizing works such as Record of Nurturing Life for Longevity, Zhen Gao, Compendium of Materia Medica Annotations, Records of Renowned Physicians, and Collected Works of Tao's Seclusion ( ) as research materials to thoroughly explore Tao Hongjing's medical health preservation methods and academic characteristics.

Exploring the reasons for the rise and fall of Taoism from the perspective of historical development: Taking several key periods as examples

The paper delves into the historical development of Taoism, analyzing its rise and fall across various Chinese dynasties. It begins with the Eastern Han dynasty, emphasizing Zhang Ling’s role in establishing Taoism as a significant religious force. The paper highlights the strategic expansion of Taoist influence under Zhang Lu in Sichuan. During the South North Dynasty, the focus shifts to Tao Hongjing’s efforts in integrating Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian ideas, thereby creating a comprehensive deity system. The contributions of Ge Hong, especially in alchemy and the concept of ’inner alchemy’, are noted in the context of the Danding School. The peak of ancient Taoism is traced back to the Song and Yuan dynasties, underscoring the pivotal support of emperors and the roles of figures like Zhang Zhengsui and Zhang Jixian in promoting Taoism. However, the Ming and Qing dynasties saw Taoism’s decline due to the suppression of religious practices and its reduction to a mere cultural aspect for the royal family and aristocracy. The paper concludes by proposing a future path for Taoism, emphasizing the need for adaptation to modern society. It suggests that Taoism should lower barriers to entry and increase its relevance to contemporary life, learning from other religions like Christianity, to sustain its growth and significance in the modern era.

The Historical Formation and Academic Characteristics of the Tao-Ge School in Daoism

The Tao-Ge School refers to the Taoists Ge Hong and Tao Hongjing as the main representatives in the Six dynasties period. It also includes numerous alchemists, physicians, and craftsmen who constituted a Daoist science and technology school in the Middle Ages. This school comprised an academic community characterized by scattered, small master–apprentice or family inheritance groups. It was founded and became popular between the 4th and 12th centuries. With alchemy, medicine, and technology as its main practice, it reflected the scientific and technological academic characteristics of cognitive positivism and rationalization, which emphasized an active understanding of nature, commitment to technological innovation, and a theoretical construction of knowledge. Historically, the Tao-Ge School had a profound impact on the practical methods and theoretical perspective of ancient Chinese science and technology, standing as an example of a school of science and technology with traditional Chinese cultural characteristics.

Research progress on processing history evolution, chemical components and pharmacological effects of Polygonati Rhizoma

Polygonati Rhizoma(PR), listed as a top-grade medicine, was recorded first in the Mingyi Bielu written by TAO Hongjing. It is a good medicine through the ages to tonify Qi and nourish Yin, strengthen spleen and kidney. PR has a long history of processing and has a variety of processing methods and technologies. Steaming and stewing are the main processing methods. There are many different excipients used in processing PR, such as wine, honey, black beans, and multiple excipients. At present, there are three plant varieties of PR recorded in Chinese Pharmacopoeia, including Polygonatum sibiricum, P. kingianum and P. cyrtonema, collectively called medicinal PR. Medicinal PR has a wide range of chemical components, mainly including polysaccharides, steroidal saponins, flavonoids, phenylpropanoids and alkaloids etc. It also has a wide range of pharmacological effects, such as anti-oxidation, anti-osteoporosis and anti-tumor effects. In this paper, we review the historical evolution, chemical components, pharmacological effects, and the effects of processing on ingredients and pharmacological effects of PR. We also analyze the limitations of the current research on PR, and put forward the prospects on the scientific connotation of processing, quality improvement, process innovation and new product development of PR for further researches.

Textual research on Chinese herbaceous peony in Chinese classical prescriptions

In this paper,the name,origin,producing area,harvesting and processing changes of Paeonia lactiflora used in classical prescriptions were studied by textual research of herbal medicine and field investigation. Chinese herbaceous peony wasn' t distinguished before the Northern and Southern Dynasties; Tao Hongjing proposed that there were two kinds of P. lactiflora in the Northern and Southern Dynasties,but they were not clearly defined; since the Song and Yuan Dynasties,the method of distinguishing P. lactiflora by flower color and root color was proposed. In the Ming Dynasty,people put forward the criteria similar to modern ones,that is,to divide red peony and white peony by means of harvesting and processing,and to continue for future generations. Since modern times,different growth patterns and processing methods have been used to classify red peony and white peony. Paeoniae Radix Alba has gradually formed three major cultivation genuine producing areas: Hangzhou,Sichuan and Bozhou,while Paeoniae Radix Rubra in modern times has praised the wild medicinal materials produced in Inner Mongolia,Toronto and other places. According to textual research,Paeoniae Radix Alba was highly praised in Song Dynasty. When people in Song Dynasty revised the previous literature,they changed " Shaoyao" into " Baishao" and continued to use Paeoniae Radix Alba for future generations. Therefore,the origin of P. lactiflora in classical prescriptions before the Song Dynasty should be determined by the combination of prescription function and prescription meaning evolution; After the Song Dynasty,the origins of " Red Paeonia Root" and " White Paeonia Root" in prescriptions are basically the same as those in today's prescriptions,which should be recorded in ancient prescriptions. For the medicinal flavor of " Paeonia Root" recorded in prescriptions after the Song Dynasty,the origins can be determined by functional domination and the evolution of prescriptions.

Textual research on the terms of "Ointment" in traditional Chinese medicine

Ointment in traditional Chinese medicine appeared very early, as early as in the Shan Hai Jing(, The Classic of Mountains and Seas) has been recorded, Wushier Bing Fang(, Prescriptions for Fifty-two Diseases), unearthed in the Mawangdui Han Tomb, there were many cases of ointment in it.The earliest paste named after "plaster" with complete formulation and application method can be found in Wuwei Han Dynasty Medical Slips.In the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Tao Hongjing's Shennong Bencao Jing Jizhu(, Collected Commentaries to the Materia Medica) presented a detailed description of the production process of ointment.The production and use of ointment in Sui and Tang Dynasties were more standardized. And ointment was widely used in Tang Dynasty. The term "yougao" (, grease) appeared in the book Beiji Qianjin Yaofang(, Essential Recipes for Emergent Use Worth A Thousand Gold), and "yaogao" (, unguent) was used earlier in the book Ishimpo(), which was used to refer to ointment.The word "ruangao" (, unguentum) was used earlier in the Yuji Weiyi(), a book from Ming Dynasty, and its connotation is basically the same as that of modern ointment.The term "rugao" (, cream) appeared again in Puji Fang(, Prescriptions for Universal Relief), referring to the ointment having a milk base.The term "ointment" was first recorded in Liangyao Yu Duyao (, Good medicine and Poisons), which published in 1932. Since then, the name "ointment" has been used in all traditional Chinese medical works.

Tao Hongjing and the Reading of Daoist Geography

This article studies ways in which Daoist writers in early medieval China represented sacred lands. It goes beyond the descriptions of Daoist sacred geography to analyze ways in which these texts were tools to disseminate new revelations about the ancient history and ownership of temple lands. It begins by looking at Han dynasty conceptions of mountains, in particular the role of individuals who were privy to the hidden, esoteric knowledge of land formations. The second part of the article focuses on the writings of the fifth century polymath Tao Hongjing. These commentaries provide valuable insight into the kinds of social exchanges that underpin the writing of Daoist geography. These writings about religious geography reflect the interests of a new clerical class of individuals who developed and recreated sacred sites on behalf of royal benefactors.

Tao Hongjing, Prime Minister in Mountains

Tao Hongjing, Prime Minister in Mountains

Declarations of the Perfected. Part One: Setting Scripts and Images into Motion by Thomas E. Smith (review)

THOMAS E. SMITH, Declarations of the Perfected. Part One: Setting Scripts and Images into Motion. St. Petersburg, FL: Three Pines Press, 2013. 350 pp. US$35.95 (pb). ISBN 978-1-931483-81-0 The Shangqing 上清 revelations refer to a collection of scriptures, hagiographies, and liturgical texts composed by the spiritual advisors of Xu Mi 許謐 (303–376 CE), a southern aristocrat living southeast of present-day Nanjing 南京. Most of these texts were written by Yang Xi 楊羲 (330–386 CE), who was hired by Xu Mi in the mid-360s as a private advisor on certain personal and financial troubles— the sudden passing of his wife, the sickness of his grandchildren, and the failure, due to a massive drought, of a farm he had recently built west of Maoshan 茅山. In this capacity, Yang entered into trancelike states of consciousness on behalf of Xu Mi to contact a band of exalted deities called the Perfected (zhenren 真人). Many of Yang’s revelations detailed solutions aimed at altering Xu’s psychological processes. The Perfected revealed that Xu was destined for rebirth as a Perfected official, and was entitled to marry a Perfected goddess by immediately entering into a spiritual union, albeit one void of carnal relations. In his recent book, Thomas Smith focuses on the nature of this imagined relationship between adepts and their Perfected partners through an annotated translation and commentary of a collection of Yang’s revelations known as Yun ti xiang 運題象. As Smith notes, the revelations comprising Yun ti xiang were all written by Xu’s advisors, but the order and overall thematic content of these texts were the design of Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (456–536), who featured Yun ti xiang as the first chapter in his Zhen’gao 真誥. Smith’s translation of Yun ti xiang is not the first attempt to translate this difficult text into a modern language. A little over a decade ago, a team of translators led by Yoshikawa Tadao 吉川忠夫 and Mugitani Kunio 麥谷邦夫 published a complete translation of the Zhen’gao in Japanese.1 Although Smith’s book only contains a partial translation of Tao’s compendium, it represents a significant advance over its predecessor. First, Smith provides readers with copious footnotes helping readers decipher the recondite terminology of the text. Unlike the Japanese translation, in which footnotes often cite passages verbatim from earlier classical Chinese sources, Smith excels at explaining the relationship between Yang’s revelations and earlier texts. Second, the organization of Smith’s book makes it an outstanding reference for students wishing to delve deeper into Yang’s revelations. Smith includes an exhaustive dramatis personae of the various deities appearing in Yang’s revelations (pp. 28–39). He also separates revelations by their date of composition, a feature making it much easier to follow the ideas and course of events contained in these texts. For these reasons, Smith’s book is an indispensible addition to the libraries of scholars working with Daoist texts. The commentary that Smith appends at the end of each string of revelations illustrates the third major contribution of this book. His commentarial layers draw 1 Shink o kenky u: yakuch u hen 「真誥」研究—譯注篇 (Kyoto: Ky oto daigaku Jinbun kagaku kenky ujo, 2000). This Japanese translation was subsequently translated by Zhu Yueli 朱 越利 as Zhen’gao jiaozhu 真誥校注 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue yuan, 2006). 128 BOOK REVIEWS attention to historical and conceptual resonances between revelations and other passages from Yun ti xiang. These parts of the book also consistently address the methodological questions Smith raises in the introduction of the book. Smith understands Yang’s revelations not just as a historical curiosity, but rather as a cultural product reflecting key (and hitherto understudied) perspectives on sexuality in fourth-century China. As Smith notes, much of the terminology describing this spiritual union was derived from the sexual lexicon of human intercourse, but the Perfected stressed that Xu’s Perfected marriage was an ethereal unification of two minds, not a relationship involving physical intercourse. Even though Yang did not conceive of his Perfected union as a relationship that involved coitus, Smith demonstrates that the human actors at Maoshan envisioned their connection with the Perfected by means of an explicitly erotic language. Smith’s interest in the mechanics...

Research on the origins and development of the verse "eighteen antagonism" in Chinese material medica

The verse "eighteen antagonism" of Chinese materia medica is a kind of describing of drug nature concerning the incompatibility of drugs in compound prescription. Through organizing the medical books in different historical periods, it is found that the drugs in this verse basically coming from TAO Hong-jing's ben cao jing ji zhu (Variorum of Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica), while the style of verse mostly appeared during the Song-Jin-Yuan period was made. The formed verse was explained and supplemented further in the Ming Dynasty, the basis of which appeared in the Song-Jin-Yuan Dynasty, resulting in the increase of the number of antagonistic drugs and lengthy verse. The origin of the verse seen in Ru men shi qin (Confucians' Duties to Their Parents) and those in other books was not identical and was the most popular one after the Qing Dynasty, becoming the most popularly known even today.

A Poetry Debate of the Perfected of Highest Clarity

The past thirty years have witnessed the publication of an ever increasing amount of scholarship dealing with the Daoist revelations from the heaven of Highest Clarity (Shangqing 上清), bestowed on and recorded by Yang Xi 楊羲 during the years 364 to 370. The story of the midnight visits by the Shangqing divinities to Yang Xi, their manifold communications to him in both prose and verse, the dispersal of their message at first to a small circle of aristocratic southern families and later to a wider audience, and the collection, editing, and codification of Yang Xi’s original manuscripts over a century later by Tao Hongjing 陶 弘景 (456–536) has fostered its own sub-field of study. There is no need to give again the details of this new celestial dispensation, so momentous in its influence over the following four centuries on medieval Chinese social, literary, political, and religious history. 1 But it is disappointing that the field of Daoist studies has shown a tendency to close around itself, much as the field of Buddhist studies did previously, and that few of its important findings have been integrated into the larger context of studies on medieval China. This has meant that scholars of medieval literature in particular still show scant awareness of Daoist texts that could both deepen and broaden their own work, much as they have for long avoided personal engagement with Buddhist texts, regarding them as the delimited province of Buddhologists. In what follows I hope to make a small contribution to bridging this disciplinary gap, by presenting a group of poems from a key Shangqing text, which can and should be seen in the light of literary and intellectual—as well as religious—history. The group of poems in question comes from the Zhen gao 真誥, containing Yang Xi’s transcription of the oral communications bestowed on him by the Perfected (or “Realized Persons,” zhenren 真人) of Highest Clarity. I have written about various of the Zhen gao poems on other occasions. 2 Here I should like to focus on an unusual set of eleven poems composed by ten different divinities as part of a group activity on the night of 4 October 365. This kind of composition by several individuals on a shared theme is a familiar occurrence in medieval Chinese poetry, the earliest extant such groups of significance being from poets at the Cao 曹 family court during the Jian’an 建安 reign-period (196–220). It should not surprise us that the zhenren may likewise find this activity enjoyable. They are members of a higher court, if you will, but they too value the creation of refined verse, as the first

Zhuangzi’s Posthumous Titles and Teachers: How Did Zhuangzi Continue Speaking to the Heart?

Tang Studies 26 (2008) ZHUANGZI'S POSTHUMOUS TITLES AND TEACHERS: HOW DID ZHUANGZI CONTINUE SPEAKING TO THE HEART? SHIYI Yu Tsinghua University, Beijing In the Daoist biographical sketches of Zhuangzi handed down from the Tang and Song period, we find a few new episodes added to Zhuangzi's life story that was first crafted by Sima Qian =P] }~!~ ~ (145-86 BCE) in his Shiji. Among them the most noticeable are Zhuangzi's ascension to the Daoist heavens and imperial sanctification in the year of 742, during the Tang dynasty.! The episode of Zhuangzi's ascension to the heavens can be traced back to the Daoist recount of his life in the fourth century CE, first revealed as a secret message from the Daoist immortals to Yang Xi t18_ (330-387), the second great transmitter of the Upper Clarity Daoist scriptures (shangqing jing l::1Fi#~) at the time.2 According to this revelation, Zhuangzi was lifted up after consuming an elixir, and he was thereafter granted a position as Librarian of the Heaven of the Great Ultimate (taiji weibianlang *f?ffil1lJ*i~~).He first became a Transcendent (xianren {LilA) and later was promoted to a Perfected Master (zhenren _A). In contrast, Zhuangzi's imperial sanctification in the Tang is more or less a historical event, marking the culmination of a secular respect for Zhuangzi that had been in existence since the Wei-Jin period (220-420). It also serves as an official reaffirmation of Zhuangzi's transcendental status with the titles conferred upon him and the book that bears his name-the Perfected Master of Nanhua (nanhua zhenren l¥f~_A) and Nanhua zhenjing l¥f~~#~ (True Scripture ofNanhua). A draft of this article was presented at the Western Branch annual meeting of the American Oriental Society in Tempe, Arizona, in November 2000, and later at the International Conference on Taoism and Nature, held in Chengdu, Sichuan province, in May 2004. I would like to thank Timothy Wai Keung Chan for reading and commenting on this article. 1 See Shiji, 63.2142 (unless otherwise indicated, all references to the twenty-four dynastic histories are to the Beijing Zhonghua shuju edition); Tao Hongjing ~§L~ (456-536), Zhengao ~§~ (HY 1010), 14.11b-12a, and Dongxuan lingbao zhenling weiye tu rlPJ~Ii.~Ii{ir*lJi (HY 167), lOb; Jiu Tang shu, 9.215. Cheng Xuanying's p)G~~ (631-652) Preface to Nanhua zhenjing shu r¥f~~~m, in Nanhua zhenjing zhushu (HY 745), 2b; Chu Boxiu m{S* (fl. 1270), Nanhua zhenjing yihai zuanwei r¥f~~#~~$.~ (HY 734), 1a/b; Lin Xiyi ***~(fl. 1260), Nanhua zhenjing kouyi r¥f~~#~D~ (HY 735), 3a/b. 2 See Michel Strickmann, "The Mao-shan Revelations: Taoism and Aristocracy," T'oung Pao 63 (1977): 1-64, and Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1999),6-7. 85 Yu: Zhuangzi's Posthumous Titles and Teachers These new episodes are significant events in the reception of the Zhuangzi, but to what extent they reflect the changes in its understanding in medieval times and the general cultural climate that went with it remains a question. The present study is an attempt to explore the possible meanings of these titles that were retrospectively given to Zhuangzi and the teachers mentioned in the new biographical notes to gauge their implications for understanding Zhuangzi's status in medieval and early modern China. This exploration has a focus on the meaning of the terms the Transcendent, Perfected Master, and Nanhua. There are two major arguments in the present study. First, the change of his title from a Transcendent to the Perfected Master in about the eighth century points to the circumstance that Zhuangzi was given a promotion in rank in the Daoist world. Second, the term Nanhua has an origin in the early Upper Clarity Daoist scriptures. When used for Zhuangzi, Nanhua indicates metaphorically that Zhuangzi was a great teacher of the heart, as understood in the Daoist tradition of this strand since the Jin dynasty (265-420). This interpretation was later amplified in the legend of Zhuangzi's teachers that appears in Daoist writings about Zhuangzi and has become a trademark of Zhuangzian Daoism since...

Huma should be Linum usitatissimum, not Sesamum indicum —With special reference to the source of confusion of names for traditional Chinese medicine and the written time and author of Shên Nung Pên Ts’ao Ching

The confusion of Huma (sic ) in Chinese history was discussed after an introduction of Chih Wu Ming Shi T'u Kao of the Qing Dynasty and its author-Wu Qijun's contribution to Chinese botany. The morphological characters and distribution of Huma and Jusheng (sic) documented in ancient Chinese literature were comparatively studied. Simultaneously, other questions about the Chinese medicament and medicine were inspected in the backgrounds of historical development and social stratum differentiation. We concluded that the earliest recorded Huma in Chinese literature should be Linum usitatissimum. The Chinese name for this plant has been used by the folks until well into modem times. Jusheng (sic) should be Sesamum indicum. The reason for the confusion of these two names was also explored. It was further inferred that the confusion of names for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) originated in the similarity of their property and function while the difference of their morphology and distribution was not taken seriously. We also concluded that Shen Nung Pen Ts'ao Ching was forged by TAO Hongjing (sic) in his Collected Commentaries on Pen Tsao Ching but attributed to an ancient author, Shennong (sic). In this book TCM was classified by their property and function, which became the root cause of the confusion of Chinese names for TCM from then on. Some suggestions were also given for the development of Chinese materia medica in the future.

Patterns of Disengagement: The Practice and Portrayal of Reclusion in Early Medieval China (review)

Reviewed by: Patterns of Disengagement: The Practice and Portrayal of Reclusion in Early Medieval China Robert Ford Campany (bio) Alan J. Berkowitz . Patterns of Disengagement: The Practice and Portrayal of Réclusion in Early Medieval China. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000. xii, 296 pp. Hardcover, ISBN 0-8047-3603.0. For the past fifteen years Alan Berkowitz has been publishing articles on "recluses" in early medieval China—men who "deliberately and habitually shunned a life of service to the state" and were deemed morally exemplary (p. 228), and even a few women whose views on the subject, fortunately for us, are recorded (p. 112). Scholars now have his long-awaited monograph on the subject to consult, along with Aat Vervoorn's Men of the Cliffs and Caves (Chinese University Press, 1990), which focuses on the Han and earlier periods. Berkowitz' book is carefully researched and reflects the author's thorough familiarity with both primary and secondary sources relevant to the subject. Berkowitz begins his work with mentions of reclusion as an ideal and of exemplary recluses in pre-Han texts stretching back to Confucius' recorded sayings and early mentions of the perennial examples Bo Yi and Shu Qi, who starved themselves rather than serve a ruler they considered unjust. In successive chapters he then moves down in time through the Western and Eastern Han, Wei, Jin, and the Northern and Southern dynasties, culminating with an examination of such Liang-era figures as Tao Hongjing. Along the way he translates a good selection of Chinese passages on reclusion as a general subject or on particular recluses, and this collection of translated materials is one of the book's most valuable assets. The book also includes a thorough bibliography (including generous citations of modern works by Chinese and Japanese scholars) and an index. While I admire the book and the scholarship that went into its making, I would like to raise a couple of questions; these are not meant to undermine readers' confidence in this work but simply to further scholarly discussion of its important topic. One effect of the chronological arrangement of chapters is that the shape of Berkowitz' own arguments or claims about this voluminous material remains somewhat unclear; thematic chapters, or chapters organized around distinct questions or particular aspects of the material other than periodization, would have yielded a book in which the author's interpretations were more clearly in focus. That having been said, certain interpretive issues recur in the text. One methodological problem with which Berkowitz deals repeatedly, without ever quite reaching a satisfying position on it, is the extent to which texts about individuals reflect those persons' historicity versus the extent to which they use individuals' names as vehicles for deploying standard tropes and stereotyped imagery. Clearly some texts seem to deal more than others with the historical realia of people's lives, but beyond this it is impossible to say much with certainty, and behind this or that [End Page 364] genre of text there is no other type or stratum of evidence to which we might appeal when assessing the "accuracy" of a textual portrayal. It is particularly when struggling to assess the extent of the "sincerity" or motivation of reclusive individuals (see esp. pp. 137, 173) that Berkowitz runs afoul of this problem in the nature of his sources—or rather, perhaps, in how he and many others wish to read such sources. No text of any kind, not even first-person statements, gives us unmediated access to the real intentions of historical actors or "what they were really thinking" (my phrase, not the author's), so the question of the factuality of this or that account of persons' feelings, motives, and character is, I fear, more or less doomed to be a non-starter. (It is not always an easy job to judge the motivations and character of people we know personally; to attempt this on the basis of stylized biographical narratives from the long-distant past is simply asking too much ofthe texts we have.) What we can and should study, on the other hand, is the array of representations of recluses and of the shifting cultural concerns, tensions, alternatives, and...