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養生訣 Yangsheng Jue
yǎngshēng jué
Engelse titel: Intstructions on Nourishing Life
Voluit Taishang laojun yangsheng jue 太上老君養生訣 (DZ 821)
The Yangsheng jue gives instructions in four physical practices:
(1) The Five Animals;
(2) Breathing the Six Qi;
(3) Nourishing Life; and
(4) Breathing Exercises.
The “Five Animals” are a set of gymnastic exercises designed by the third-century physician Hua Tuo in imitation of the movements of tigers, bears, deer, monkeys, and birds, stretching and bending different parts of the body in the mode of the beasts. Through them “the hundred diseases will be completely expelled” (2a).
Next, the “Six Qi” are better known as the “Six Sounds” (liuzi jue). They designate various noises made as one exhales breath, each of which has a healing effect on a particular organ, such as si on the lungs, ke on the heart, and hu on the spleen (2ab).
Third, the section on “Nourishing Life” has a summary of the structure of the human body, seen as parallel to that of the state, with the stomach as the imperial palace, the limbs as the provincial governments, the bones as the hundred officials, the arteries as major thoroughfares, and qi-energy as the people (3a). Cultivating the body as they would govern the state, adepts place primary emphasis on the smooth circulation of energy in addition to expelling the six harm-bringers: fame and gain, sights and sounds, wealth and possessions, smell and taste, deceit and falsehood, jealousy and envy (3b). Reciting the scriptures, they attain moderation in emotions and stability, of mind (3b), also taking care not to strain the body: no long sitting, walking, looking, listening; no eating to excess, no waiting to eat until famished (4a). Together with getting up early, retiring in good time, and never overdoing anything, this will give one’s life a sedate rhythm that makes the mind tranquil and the body healthy.
Fourth and finally, the Yangsheng jue describes breathing exercises, repeating instructions on the Six Sounds on the basis of the various organs (6ab). Finding cosmic energy in human breath, it describes the ocean of energy in the body as collecting cosmic power “just as mountains gather clouds and the earth gathers marshes” (5a). Adepts should exercise both in the morning and at night, breathing deeply and consciously and repeating the exercise ten times. The section ends with a renewed emphasis on the human body as constituted by spirit and energy and the need to cultivate both in order to attain the Dao. (Livia Kohn 1998 God of the Dao p 80-81)
Jean Lévi schrijft:
Taishang laojun yangsheng jue, Early Tang (618-907) "Instructions of the Most High Lord Lao for Nourishing Vitality.” This work consists of a collection of diverse gymnastic and respiratory practices, arranged in four paragraphs. Each of these short texts can be found in works of the early Tang (618-907), and the present collection should date to the same period.
The text states that it was "transmitted by Hua Tuo to Wu Pu reflecting the usual attribution of its first technique to Hua (see Hou Han shu 82B.2739). The first two paragraphs of the present text are entitled "Wuqin" (Dance of the Five Animals and "Liuqi" (The Six Breaths), respectively. The liuqi method is extant in numerous analogous versions The third paragraph, a general discours on dietary methods, is also reproduced in Baopu zi yangsheng lun (DZ 842). The final paragraph concerns respiratory techniques, in particular the method of the Six Breaths for healing diseases of the Five Viscera. An analogous version is found in Sun zhenren beiji qianji yaofang 82.5b--8b (DZ 1163) (Jean Lévi in Schipper 2004 The Taoist Canon 354-455)
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Livia Kohn 1998 God of the Dao p 80-81
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