Baopuzi

Title

The eponymous title Baopuzi derived from Ge Hong’s hao號”nickname; pseudonym” Baopuzi (lit. “embrace simplicity master”), qui compounds bao 抱 “embrace, hug, carry, hold in Both arms, cherish,” have gold 朴 “uncarved wood, [a Daoist metaphor for a] person’s original nature; simple; and zi 子 “child; offspring; master [title of respect]”. Baopu is a classical allusion to the Daodejing (19, 1990: 181), “Evince the Plainness of Undyed Silk, embrace the simplicity of the unhewn log, the selfishness, diminish desires, abolish learning and you will be without worries.”

Ge Hong’s autobiography choosing Explains His pen name Baopuzi.

It has been my plan to preserve regularity and not to follow the whims of the world. My speech is frank and sincere; I engage in no banter. If I do not come to the right person, I can spend the day in silence. This is the reason my neighbors call me Simplex ( Pao-p’u ), which name I used as a sobriquet in my writings. (T. Ware 1966: 10)

Compare these autobiography translations: (Davis and Ch’en 1941: 301) “people all call me a pao-p’u scholar (ie, one who keeps his basic nature, one who is unperturbed by the desires of the world)”; (Sailey 1978: 251) “The Scholar Who Embraces Simplicity” among the people of his country. Wu and Davis (1935: 224) noted, “This name has been translated from Old Sober-Sides , but Dr. Wu believes that it would not be more appropriate and would be better solemn-seeming philosopher .” Fabrizio Pregadio (2006: 2) Translators “Master Who Embraces Spontaneous Nature”.

History

Compared with many other Daoist texts, the origins of the Baopuzi are well documented. Ge completed the book during the Jianwu 建武 era (317-318), when Emperor Yuan of Jin founded the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and revised it during the Xianhe 咸 和 era (326-334).

Ge Hong’s autobiography (Outer Chapter 50) records writing the Baopuzi .

In my twenties I planned to make some things in my life, for it seemed This is when I started my philosophical writing, but it was also the moment when I became involved in armed rebellion and found myself wandering and scattered even afield farther, some of my things getting lost. Although constantly on the move, I did not give up my brush again for a dozen or so years, so that at the age of 37 or 38 [AD 317-18] I found my work completed. In all, I have composed Nei p’ien in 20 scrolls, Wai p’ien in 50; … [list of other writings, totaling 310 scrolls] My Nei p’ien, telling of gods and genii, prescriptions and medicines, ghosts and marvels, transformations, maintenance of life, extension of years, exorcising evils, and misfortune banishing, belongs to the Taoist school. My Wai p’ien , giving an account of success and failure in human affairs and of good and evil in public affairs, belongs to the Confucian school. (T. Ware 1966: 17, see Sailey 1978: 264)

Compare the more literal translation of Davis and Ch’en (1941: 301), “I left off writing for ten years, for I was constantly on the road, until the dog-wu era” (317-318 AD) when I got it ready. ”

Ge’s autobiography mentions his military service fighting against the Jin Dynasty, and successfully defending his hometown of Jurong 句容 (in modern Zhenjiang , Jiangsu ). In 330 (tr Ware 1966: 20), Emperor Cheng of Jin granted the fief of “Marquis of Guanzhong ” with income from 200 Jurong households. Scholars believe Ge revised the Baopuzi during this period, sometime around 330 (Komjathy 2004: 22) or 332 (Wu and Davis 1935: 224).

The Baopuzi consists of 70 pian “chapters; books” divided between the 20 “Inner Chapters” and 50 “Outer Chapters” (see the Zhuangzi textual division). Nathan Sivin (1969: 389) describes it as “not one book but two, considerably different in theme”. The Neipian and Waipian “led Entirely separate physical existences They Were not combined under a single title up to a millennium after-Ko’s time”.

The (1444-1445) Ming Dynasty Daozang “Daoist Cannon” first printed Baopuzi parts together. This Zhengtong Daozang D 道 藏 “Daoist Canon of the Zhengtong Era (1436-1450)” bibliographically categorized the Baopuzi under the Taiqing太清 “Supreme Clarity” section for alchemical texts. Daozang editions encompass six juan (卷 “scrolls; fascicles; volumes”), three each for the Inner and Outer Chapters. Most received versions of Baopuzi descends from this Ming Daozang text.

Content

The Baopuzi Inner and Outer Chapters discusses miscellaneous topics ranging from esotericism to social philosophy . The Inner Chapters discuss techniques of xian仙 “immortality; transcendence”, Chinese alchemy , meditation, Daoist yoga , Daoyin , sexual techniques , Chinese herbology , demons, and fu符 “magic talismans”. The Outer Chapters discuss Chinese philosophy , Confucianism , Legalism, government, politics, literature, scholarship, and include Ge’s autobiography, which Waley (1930: 10) called “the fullest document of this kind that early China produced”.

According to Ge Hong’s autobiography, he divided the Inner and Outer Chapters on the distinction between Daoism and Confucianism . Philosophically Daoism Ge Described as the ben本”root, trunk, origin” and Confucianism as the mo末”tip; branch; end” (Inner Chapter 10, tr Ware 1966: 165.). When asked, “Which has the priority, Confucianism or Taoism?” – Baopuzi replies, “Taoism is the very trunk of Confucianism, Purpose Confucianism is only a branch of Taoism.”

While the Baopuzi Inner and Outer Chapters differ in content, they share a general format with an unnamed interlocut The phrase is Huowen yue或 問 曰 “Someone asked, saying” and Baopuzi da yue抱樸子 “” Baopuzi answered, saying “.

Inner Chapters

The Twenty Neipian “Inner Chapters” record arcane techniques for achieving xian “transcendence; immortality”. These technologies span two kinds of Chinese alchemy That Tang Dynasty scholars later Differentiated into neidan內丹”internal elixir; internal alchemy” and waidan外丹”external elixir; external alchemy”. The word dan 丹 ” cinnabar ; pellet; [Chinese medicine] pill” means ” pill of immortality , or elixir of life. Ge Hong details his researches into the arts of transcendence and immortality. “Internal alchemy” concerns creating an “immortal body” within the body through both physiological methods (dietary, respiratory, sexual, etc.) and mental practices (meditation, visualization, etc.). “External” or “laboratory alchemy” concerning compounding elixirs (esp. From minerals and metals), writing fu talismans or amulets, herbalism, and exorcism.

Lai outlines the Inner Chapters subjects:

(1) proofs of the per se existence of immortals and transcendent states of immortality of the body; (2) stipulation of the accessibility to the perfect state of long life to all, irrespective of one’s social status; (3) elaboration of various esoteric techniques leading one to become a hsien- immortal; and (4) descriptions and criticism of the various contemporary Taoist discourses and sects. (1998: 191-2)

Several chapters have specific themes. Chapters 4, 8, 11, and 16 describe waidan “external alchemy”. Inner Chapter 18 details meditation practices. In Chapter 19, Ge Hong praises his master Zheng Yin ca 隱 (ca 215-ca 302), catalogs Daoist books, and lists talismans (see Ware 1966: 379-385).

Table 1: The Neipian內 篇 “Inner Chapters”

Number	Pinyin	Characters	Translation (adapted from Ware 1966)
1	Changxuan	暢 玄	Defining the Mysterious
2	Lunxian	論 仙	About Immortals
3	Duisu	對 俗	Rejoinders to Popular Conceptions
4	Jindan	金丹	Gold and Cinnabar [pill of immortality]
5	Zhili	至 理	The Ultimate Order
6	Weizhi	微 旨	The Meaning of “Subtle”
7	Sainan	塞 難	Countering Objections
8	Shizhi	釋 滯	Resolving Obstructions
9	Daoyi	道 意	The Meaning of “the Way”
10	Mingben	明 本	Clarifying the Basic [Confucian and Daoist differences]
11	Xianyao	仙藥	The Medicine of Immortality
12	bianwen	辨 問	Discerning Questions
13	Jiyan	極 言	The Ultimate Words [about immortality]
14	Qinqiu	勤 求	Diligently Seeking [for a teacher]
15	Zaying	雜 應	Miscellaneous Answers
16	Huangbai	黃白	Yellow and White
17	Dengshe	登 涉	Climbing [Mountains] and Crossing [Rivers]
18	Dizhen	地 真	The Terrestrial Truth
19	Xialan	遐 覽	Broad Overview [of Daoist literature]
20	Quhuo	袪 惑	Allaying Doubts

Many scholars have praised the Inner Chapters. Joseph Needham (1954: 437), who called Ge Hong “the greatest alchemist in Chinese history”, quoted following passages from different biological categories.

Interlocutor : Life and death are expected and their duration is normally fixed. Life is not something any medicine can shorten or lengthen. A finger that has been cut off. Blood from a wound, though swallowed, is of no benefit. Therefore, it is most likely to approve of such nonhuman substances as pine or thuya [cypress] to protract the brief span of life.
Ko: According to your argument, a thing is beneficial only if it belongs to the same category. If we follow your suggestion and mistrusted things of a different type, we would be obliged to crush flesh and smelt bone to prepare a medicine for wounds, or to fry skin and treat hair to treat baldness. Water and soil are of the same substance as the various plants; yet the second one relies on them for growth. The grains are not of the same species as living men; yet living men need them in order to stay alive. Fat is not over with fire, nor water with fish, but when there is no more fat the fires, and when there is no more water, fish perish. (3 tr Ware 1966: 61-62)

Needham (1954: 439) worth this passage, “Admittedly there is much in the Pao Phu Tzu which is wild, fanciful and superstitious, but here we have a discussion scientifically as well as anything in Aristotle, and very much superior to anything contemporary occident could produce. ”

In addition to quoting early alchemical texts, the Inner Chapters describe Ge Hong’s laboratory experiments. Wu and Davis mention the Baopuzi formula for making mosaic gold “a golden crystalline powder used as a pigment” from chiyan赤 塩 “red crystal salt” (produced from amethyst , calcite crystal , and alum Ware 1966: 273) and huizhi灰 汁 ” limewater “.

The description of a process of special concern, for it is obviously concerned with the preparation of stannic sulphide or “mosaic gold” and is perhaps the earliest known description of the preparation of this interesting substance. Mosaic gold exists in flakes or leaflets which have the color and the luster of gold, it is not tarnish, and is used at present for bronzing radiators, gilding picture frames and similar purposes. As Ko Hung describes the process, “tin sheets, each measuring six inches square by one and two-tenths inches thick, are covered with a one-tenth inch layer of a mud-like mixture of Ch’ih Yen (Red Salt) and Huei Chih (potash-water, limewater), ten pounds of tin to every four of Ch’ih YenThey are then heated in a sealed earthenware pot for thirty days with horse manure (probably with a smoldering fire of dried manure). A large portion of the metallic tin is converted into some ash-like compound or possibly into the ash-like allotropic modification, a small portion of the tin is converted into bean-sized aggregates of flaky stannic sulfide. for the author says that “twenty ounces of gold are obtained from every twenty pounds of tin used.” (1935: 232)

The authors add, “It seems likely that Ko Hung was personally experienced in the chemistry of tin, for the Chinese say that he was the first to make the foil and that he made magic money out of it.”

Outer Chapters

The fifty Waipian “Outer Chapters” are more diffuse than the Inner ones. Ge Hong variously wrote essays on Jin Dynasty issues in philosophy, morality, politics, and society. This Baopuzi portion details everyday problems among Han Dynasty northerners who fled into south China after the fall of Luoyang .

Some of the Outer Chapters are thematically organized. Ge Hong wrote chapters 46, 47, and 48 to dispute three adversaries. Guo Tai 郭 太 (128-169) Found of the Qingtan “pure conversation” school; Neither Heng 禰 衡 (173-198) was an infamously arrogant official of Cao Cao ; and Bao Jingyan鮑 敬 言 (ca. 405-ca.446) was an early anarchist philosopher.

Table 2: The Waipian外 篇 “Outer Chapters”

Number	Pinyin	Characters	Translation (adapted from Sailey 1978)
1	Jiadun	嘉 遯	Praising Eremitism
2	Yimin	逸民	Rusticating People
3	Xuxue	勖 學	Encouraging Study
4	Chongjiao	崇 教	Respecting Education
5	Jundao	君 道	The Way of the Ruler
6	Chenjie	臣節	The Integrity of the Ministers
7	Lianggui	良 規	Good Regulations
8	Shinan	時 難	Averting Difficulties at the Right Time
9	guanli	官 理	The Right Order among the Officials
10	Wuzheng	務 正	The Correct Use of Instruments
11	Guixian	貴 賢	Esteeming Wise People
12	Renneng	任 能	Employing the Able
13	Qinshi	欽士	Respecting Well-Minded Subjects
14	Yongxing	用刑	Employing Punishments
15	Shenju	審 舉	Examining Promotions
16	Jiaoji	交際	Keeping Company
17	Beique	備 闕	Encountering Deficiencies
18	Zhuocai	擢 才	Promoting Talents
19	Renming	任命	Employing Orders
20	Mingshi	名 實	Name and Reality
21	Qingjian	清 鑒	The Pure Mirror
22	Xingpin	行 品	Using Official Ranks
23	Misong	弭 訟	Ending Disputes
24	Jiujie	酒 誡	Admonitions on Alcohol
25	Jimiu	疾 謬	Pointing out Faults
26	Jihuo	譏 惑	Censuring Muddleheadedness
27	Cijiao	刺 驕	Criticizing Arrogance
28	Baili	百里	Hundred Miles
29	Jieshu	接 疏	Meeting Visitors
30	junshi	鈞 世	Equalizing Generations
31	Shengfan	省 煩	Decreasing Vexations
32	Shangbo	尚 博	Valuing Breadth of Learning
33	Hanguo	漢 過	The Faults of Han
34	Wushi	吳 失	The Failings of Wu
35	Shouji	守 塉	Guarding Barren Land
36	Anpin	安貧	Content with Poverty
37	Renming	仁 明	Benevolence and Brilliance
38	Boyu	博 喻	Extensive Analogies
39	Guangpi	廣 譬	Vast Examples
40	Ciyi	辭 義	Writings and Ideas
41	Xunben	循 本	Abiding by Basics
42	Yingchao	應 嘲	Responding to Ridicule
43	yupi	喻 蔽	Clarifying Obscurities
44	Baijia	百家	The Hundred Schools
45	Wenxing	文 行	Cultivated Behavior
46	Zheng Guo	正 郭	Correcting Guo [Tai]
47	Tan Ni	彈 禰	Ni Accusing [Heng]
48	Jie Bao	詰 鮑	Bao [Jingyan]
49	Zhizhi, Qiongda, Chongyan	知 止, 窮 達, 重 言	Knowing When to Stop, Obscurity and Eminence, Reduplicated Words
50	Zixu	自敘	Autobiography

Translations

The Chinese Baopuzi has been translated into English, Italian, German, and Japanese. There are more translations of the twenty Inner Chapters than the fifty Outer Chapters.

The Inner Chapters have several partial translations. Tenney L. Davis, professor of organic chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , collaborating on first translations of the Inner Chapters of the History of Alchemy . Wu and Davis (1935) translated chapters 4 “On the Gold Medicine” and 16 “On the Yellow and White” (ie, gold and silver). Davis and Ch’en (1941) translated 8 “Overcoming Obstructions” and 11 “On Hsien Medicines”, and provided paraphrases or summaries of the remaining Inner Chapters. The French sinologist Eugene Feifel made English translations of chapters 1-3 (1941), 4 (1944), and 11 (1946). More recently, excerpts from the Inner Chapters are quoted by Verellen (1999) and Pregadio (2006).

James R. Ware (1966), which also includes Ge Hong’s autobiography from Outer Chapter 50 (1966: 6-21). Several reviewers censured the quality of Ware’s translation, for instance, Kroll (1982: 139) called it “at times misguided”. Huard’s and Wong’s (1968) Critical Assessment of Ware was criticized in turn by Sivin (1969: 388). “Their review, not only, can only be described as perfunctory.

Translating the fundamental Daoist word Dao or Tao “way; path; principle” as English God is a conspicuous peculiarity of Ware’s Baopuzi version. The Introduction gives a convoluted Christian justification, first quoting JJL Duyvendak’s translation of Daodejing 25, “Its rightful name I do not know, but I give it the sobriquet Tao (= God). maximum. ”

Then, upon noticing that Tao Te Ching , pays 34, is willing to call the Something “Minimal,” every schoolman would have understood that the Chinese author was talking about God, for only in God’s contraries become identical! Accordingly, the present translator will always render this use of the term Tao by God . In doing so, he keeps always in mind the one and only definition of the equation establishable from Exod . 3: 13-15 and Mark 12: 26-27, to mention only two very clear statements. It will be recalled that God says, “My name is I am, I live, I exist,” while the second reads, “God is not dead in the living.” Therefore, God = Life or Being. (1966: 1-2)

Ware admitted his God for Dao can not be applied consistently.

God is to be approximated or attained. It is clear that the word tao appears frequently in this text. In such cases I shall translate it as “the divine process.” In instances where this or “God” would be appropriate, a translator is obliged to be arbitrary. The term tao shih is rendered “processor”; hsien is translated “genie” rather than “immortal”. (1966: 3)

These Chinese words are daoshi 道士 “Daoist priest, Daoist practitioner” and xian 仙 “immortal, transcend”. Ho Peng-Yoke, an authority in the History of Science and Technology in China , criticized Ware’s mistranslations.

It may be true that in certain areas the concept of Tao overlaps with the definition and attributes of God, or for that matter with those of Allah, for example oneness and eternity. However, there is the danger of the analogy being pushed too far. Similarly, the reader might be warned that “Genii,” as used for rendering the word hsien , does not convey the concept of some supernatural slavs found in the lamp and the ring of the Thousand-and-One Nights . The reviewer prefers the terminology used by Tenny L. Davis, ie Tao left untranslated and “immortal” for hsien . (1967: 145)

Nevertheless, Ho’s review concluded with praise. “Ware Professor Professor Professor Professor……………………” “” “” “” “”. ”

Ge Hong wrote the Baopuzi in elegant Classical Chinese grammar and terminology, but some Inner Chapter contexts are difficult to translate. Comparing three versions of this passage with xian medicines and the translational choices.

The best hsien medicine is cinnabar. Others in the order of perfection, gold, silver, chih , the five jades, mica, pearl, realgar, ya yu liang , shih chung huang tzu liter 中 黄 子 (literally yellow nucleus stone), shih kuei石 桂 (stony cinnamon), quartz, shih nao石 腦, shih liu huang石 硫黄 (a kind of raw sulfur), wild honey and tseng ch’ing . (11, tr., Davis and Ch’en 1941: 311)

Medicines of superior quality for immortality are: cinnabar; next then, then the silver, then the many chih , then the five kinds of jade, then mica, then ming-chu , then realgar, then brown hematite, then conglomerate masses of brown hematite, then stone cassia (?), then quartz, then paraffin, then sulfur, then wild honey, then malachite (stratified variety) (Feifel 1946: 2)

At the top of the genie’s pharmacopoeia stands cinnabar. Second comes gold; third, silver, fourth, excresences; fifth, the jades; sixth, mica; seventh, pearls; eighth, realgar; ninth, brown hematite; tenth, conglomerated brown hematite; eleventh, quartz; twelfth, rock crystal; thirteenth, geodes; fourteenth, sulphur; fifteenth, wild honey; and sixteenth, laminar malachite. (T. Ware 1966: 178)

The Baoppuzi Outer Chapters have a partial translation into English. Jay Sailey (1978) translated from the 50 chapters: 1, 3, 5, 14-15, 20, 24-26, 30-34, 37, 40, 43-44, 46-47, and 50. In addition, Sailey (1978: 509-545) included appendices on “Buddhism and the Pao-p’u-tzu “, “Biography of Ko Hung” from the Jin Shu , and “Recensions” of lost Baopuzi fragments quoted in later texts. Kroll (1982: 139) gives a mixed review, “Although Sailey’s renderings frequently obscure Ko Hung’s carefully polished diction and nuance, they reliably convey the sense of the original and should be a substantial boon to Western scholars of medieval Chinese thought and culture.”

Significance

For centuries, traditional scholars have revered the Baopuzi as a canonical Daoist scripture – but in recent years, modern scholars have reevaluated the text.

Traditional scholarship of the Baopuzi , especially the Inner Chapters, a primary textual source for early Chinese waidan “external alchemy”. Wu and Davis described it as,

probably the widest known and highest regarded of the ancient Chinese treatises on alchemy. It has been preserved for part of the Taoist canon. It shows the art of maturing by five or six centuries of practice, having its traditional heroes and an extensive literature, its technical and philosophy now clearly fixed, its objectives and pretentions established. This art the author examines in a hardheaded manner and expounds in which is remarkably free from subterfuge. (1935: 221)

Arthur Waley praised Ge Hong’s rational attitude towards alchemy.

Nowhere in Pao P’u Tzu’s book do we find the hierophantic tone that pervades most writings on alchemy both in the East and in the West. He uses a certain number of secret terms, such as “metal-lord” and “river chariot”, both of which mean lead; and 河 上 她 女 the the the the the,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, But But But But But But But But But But But But But But But But But But But But. (1930: 13)

In the estimation of Ho (1967: 145), the Baopuzi is a “more important” alchemical text than Wei Boyang ‘s (ca 142) Cantong qi參 同 契 “The Kinship of the Three”. The Baopuzi mentions a Neijing內 經 “Inner Classic” by Wei Boyang, but curiously does not mention Wei’s Cantong ji .

Modern scholarship has taken another look at the Baopuzi . Sivin demeans the text’s significance.

The Inner Chapters are anything but the writings of a Taoist man of wisdom or organizer for his disciples or for other initiates. This book is a vast trove of commonplace and hearsay about popular beliefs in which Ko’s few incontestably Taoist texts play an essential but small part. Its goal is to catalog, synthesize, or provide a handbook of techniques. It is rather a dialogue in which the effects of an anonymous interlocutor. The Inner Chapters are a one-issue book. Ko seeks to convince his questioner, and thus his readers, that it is a proper object of study and is not possible – not only by the ancients but in his own time, and dangerous disciplines. The devotion that Ko calls for agents wholesale acceptance of legends, myths, tales of prodigies, magical beliefs, religious beliefs – practically every day in the world. intellectual style). (1978: 345)

Sivin sarcastically compares Ge Hong, “an obsessed bookman and indiscriminate lore-collector,” with Alan Watts . “Ko’s style is more than a pedantic purveyor of occultism to the upper class.” I can only think of him as Alan Watts of his time. However, James Benn (2003: 139) observes, “This judgment is perhaps not enough to suggest that Professor Sivin would like to see you in the hope of learning much about Taoism, but a close study of his work would tell us a great deal about perceptions and presuppositions concerning Asian religions in mid-twentieth century America.

Chi-Tim Lai (1998: 199) interprets the Inner Chapters as a “new discourse” on xian- immortality through personal salvation and perfection, contrasting with the traditional “imperial discourse” that only the rich could afford xian -hood. For example, record stories that both Qin Shi Huang and Emperor Wu of Han sent imperial naval expeditions to obtain the “elixir of immortality” from mythical Mount Penglai . “That is, an individual’s self-perfection is only dependent on ascetic, mystical, and ethical behavior.” . ”

According to Ko Hung, the hsien -immortals who can achieve the complete avoidance of death rarely come from the social groups of worthies, emperors, or wise men. Hence, he Implies That hsien -immortality distinctive are “human” ideal values to be Pursued and Potentially Achieved by anyone. In the first, in order to Differentiate the ideal values of hsien -immortal from this worldly powers and worthies, Ko Hung says, “Those Who Were Almost all attained immortal poor and lowly. They Were not men of position and power.” ‘Second , in placing the ideal of hsienKo Hung rebukes emperors such as the First Emperor of the Ch’in and Emperor Han-wu-ti, who were “models” of seeking for immortality in ancient Chinese history and literature, by saying “These two emperors had a hollow reputation for wanting immortality, but they never experienced the reality of cultivating the Tao.” (Lai 1998: 210)

Ge Hong quotes his teacher Zheng Yin explaining that poverty forces daoshi “Daoist practitioners” seeking xian techniques to engage in the difficulties and dangers of alchemy.

Then I ask further, “Why should we not have the gold and silver which are already in existence instead of making it look like they are making money?” Said Cheng Chun in reply, “The gold and silver, which are suitable for the purpose.” But Tao-shih are all poor, witness the adage that Hsien are never stout and Tao-shih never rich Tao-shihusually go in groups of five or ten, counting the teacher and his disciples. Poor they are, how can they be expected to get the necessary gold and silver? Moreover they can not cover the great distances to gather the gold and silver which occur in nature. The only thing left to do to make the metals themselves “(16, Wu and Davis 1935: 260-1)

Ware (1966: 268) translates this adage, “There are no fat genii and no rich processors”.

For a wealthy person looking for xian- transcendence, Ge Hong recommends compounding jinye金 液 (lit. “gold liquid / fluid”) “golden liquor” in a huachi花池 (lit. “flower pond”) “a vinegar solvent” (fortified with saltpeter , Ware 1966: 347). This is a little more than just a jiuding “nine tripods” elixirs (awarded to the Yellow Emperor ), but expensive – eight doses cost 400,000 cash .

True it is that the nine medicines are the best of Hsienmedicines. Yet the materials for their compounding are quite numerous. They are easily available in many places, but they are not available at other places. Furthermore, in the compounding of the medicines, the fires should be extended to those of the industry and the industry, which is a great difficulty. The compounding of the Gold Fluid is much easier. There the only thing which is difficult to get the gold. One pound in the old measure is equivalent to two in our contemporary measure. Such a quantity of gold would be only a few hundred thousand cash. The other auxiliary materials are easy to get. In the compounding, no fire is required. All that needs to be done in Hua Ch’ih(Flower Pond) for the necessary number of days. A total expenditure of four hundred thousand dollars will make an amount large enough to transform eight persons into Hsien . Just as no wine is formed by the fermentation of small quantities of rice, so small quantities of materials will not be able to interact to give the medicine. (4, Wu and Davis, 1935: 251)

Pregadio (2006: 215) says recent studies show Ge’s intent is “glorifying the religious and ritual legacy of Jiangnan” , emphasizing the superiority of certain traditions over others, and enhancing their prestige among the social elite to which Ge Hong belonged. ” Nonetheless, Pregadio concludes,

Ge Hong’s comment deserves attention as a valuable overview of the religious traditions of Jiangnan just before the Way of the Celestial Masters ( Tianshi dao ) spread to that area, followed by the Shangqing and Lingbao revelations. From this point of view, the Baopu zi documents important links between the earlier and later history of Taoism, as well as for other fields. (2006: 217)

References

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