This is the first book to examine extensively the religious aspects of Chinese alchemy. Its main focus is the relation of alchemy to the Daoist traditions of the early medieval period (third to sixth centuries). It shows how alchemy contributed to and was tightly integrated into the elaborate body of doctrines and practices that Daoists built at that time, from which Daoism as we know it today evolved. The book also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices. It contains full translations of three important medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries, making available for the first time in English the gist of the early Chinese alchemical corpus.

Fabrizio Pregadio is Acting Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University and General Editor of the Encyclopedia of Taoism (2005).

Fabrizio Pregadio is Acting Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Stanford University and General Editor of theEncyclopedia of Taoism (2005).

Great Clarity

Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval ChinaBy Fabrizio Pregadio

Stanford University Press

Copyright © 2005 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-5177-3

Contents

List of Figures and Tables........................................................................xiConventions.......................................................................................xiiiPreface...........................................................................................xvIntroduction......................................................................................1PART ONE: THE HEAVEN OF GREAT CLARITY AND ITS REVELATIONS1. The Early History of Chinese Alchemy and the Way of the Great Clarity.........................232. The Heaven of Great Clarity...................................................................353. The Great Clarity Corpus......................................................................52PART TWO: THE ELIXIRS OF THE GREAT CLARITY4. The Crucible and the Elixir...................................................................675. The Ritual Sequence...........................................................................796. The Medicines of Great Clarity................................................................100PART THREE: A HISTORY OF THE GREAT CLARITY7. Gods, Demons, and Elixirs: Alchemy in Fourth-Century Jiangnan.................................1238. The Way of the Great Clarity and Daoism in the Six Dynasties..................................140PART FOUR: TEXTS OF THE GREAT CLARITY9. Scripture of the Nine Elixirs.................................................................15910. Scripture of the Golden Liquor................................................................18811. Scripture of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles...............................................193PART FIVE: THE LEGACY OF THE GREAT CLARITY12. The Later History of Chinese Alchemy and the Decline of the Great Clarity.....................203APPENDIXESA. Dates of Texts in the Waidan Corpus............................................................227B. Additional Notes on Great Clarity and Related Texts............................................231C. Additional Notes on the Commentary to the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs........................241Notes.............................................................................................255Glossary..........................................................................................299Works Quoted......................................................................................319Index.............................................................................................337

Chapter One

THE EARLY HISTORY OF CHINESE ALCHEMY AND THE WAY OF THE GREAT CLARITY

The origins of alchemy is a fascinating subject that has engaged the attention of several generations of scholars. In a survey of sources and studies of the Western tradition, Robert Halleux has pointed out the wide diversity of opinions that exist in this respect. As he shows, the debate among scholars has concerned not only the dating of the sources, but especially what constitutes alchemy, how it differs from metallurgy and proto-chemistry, and whether the earliest extant sources provide definite evidence on their origins and background. Due to the remarkable variety of views concerning these issues, there is no agreement on when and where the arts of the elixirs first took shape, and on what role was played in this context by the speculative and ritual features that have characterized alchemy wherever it has developed.

In other words, part of the issue lies exactly with the definition of alchemy. The characterization of the arts of the elixirs suggested by Halleux-"an aggregate of practices and speculations related to the transmutation of metals"-is straightforward but points to the complexity of the questions that require attention. On the one hand, the techniques for refining and transmuting minerals and metals do not constitute alchemy per se, as they do not necessarily imply the existence of a doctrinal and soteriological background. More precisely, this background exists in the first place, but for a variety of reasons the techniques may come to be transmitted separately from it. Within the Chinese tradition, this is true not only of the proto-chemical techniques of waidan, but also of the physiological techniques of neidan; to give one example that pertains to the latter form of alchemy, one of its greatest representatives, Chen Zhixu (1289-after 1335), emphatically rejects the understanding of alchemy as consisting only of its practices when he writes: "It has been said that the way of cultivation and refinement consists of the techniques (shu) of the Yellow Emperor and Laozi. No more of this nonsense! This is the Great Way of the Golden Elixir, and it cannot be called a technique."

On the other hand, the doctrinal principles at the basis of the compounding of the elixirs are shared by alchemy with other traditions and disciplines, and the compounding of the elixirs is not the only means of access to them. In Chinese alchemy, this is clearly visible in the fact that the alchemical process, either waidan or neidan, is rooted in doctrinal notions that originate elsewhere-specifically, within Daoism-and of which alchemy represents one of the applications. Alchemy, in other words, cannot be defined either by its techniques or by its doctrinal foundations alone but rather, using the formulation suggested by Halleux, by the unique relationship it establishes between "practices and speculations," or between techniques and doctrines. This relationship can take several forms, including some in which the compounding of the elixir is meant in an entirely metaphoric way.

The issues referred to above are especially relevant in relation to the earliest stages of the history of alchemy in China, those with which we are concerned here. The limited amount of evidence is not the only impediment to research in this area, for the available documents share the ambiguity of the Western sources and the resulting variety of possible interpretations. Sources ranging from historical and archaeological documents to mythological and hagiographic accounts yield some information on the quest for immortality and the knowledge of proto-chemical techniques in pre-imperial and early imperial times. At a closer inspection, however, very few of them are found to be directly relevant to alchemy proper; most consist of legendary accounts such as those on medicines of immortality that spontaneously grow in remote places, or refer to artisanal techniques for refining metals and minerals. Some of these legends and tales are likely to descend, in the first place, from the same background that also gave rise to alchemy; no early document, however, makes the link explicit. We do not know, moreover, how secret transmissions and founding myths of the early guilds of metallurgical artisans may have influenced the rise of the arts of the elixirs. We should be ready, finally, to accept the possibility that although alchemy is always characterized by a practice based on doctrinal principles, the earliest extant sources focus only on the former aspect and provide no more than a few hints on the second aspect, which was the subject of oral transmission.

The Issue of the Origins

While the scarcity and ambiguity of the available data suggest caution, the attempt to fix...