Fangshi
Encyclopedia
Fangshi was a category of Chinese technical specialists that flourished from the third century BCE to the fifth century CE. English translations of fangshi encompass alchemist
, astrologer
, diviner
, exorcist
, geomancer, doctor
, magician, mountebank
, monk
, mystic
, necromancer, occultist, omen
ologist, physician
, physiognomist, technician
, technologist
, thaumaturge, and wizard.
word fangshi 方士 combines fang 方 "direction; side; locality; place; region; formula; (medical) prescription; recipe; method; way" and shi 士 "scholar; intelligentsia; gentleman; officer; yeoman; soldier; person trained in a certain field".
Many English-language texts transliterate this word as fangshi or fang-shih, but some literally translate it.
Fangshi "is an elusive term that defies a consistent translation" (Toh 2010:4).
There is general agreement that the shi in fangshi 方士 means "master; gentleman; trained specialist" (cf. Daoshi 道士 "Daoist priest; diviner"), but considerable disagreement about the meaning of fang.
The etymology of fangshi is "subject to various interpretations", writes DeWoskin.
Harper says "DeWoskin's attempt at a definition for fang shih which admits every possible meaning of fang into its analysis renders the term meaningless".
Based upon words that Han texts use to describe occult practices, fangshu 方書 "recipe book; treatise on an art/skill; collection of medical prescriptions" and fangban 方板 "recipe tablet; treatise on an art/skill", Harper concludes, "The possession of writings containing occult knowledge which might be revealed to select patrons was the chief characteristic of all who were known as fang shih."
Describing the background of fangshi, DeWoskin suggests an "other" etymology.
Harper also faults this hypothesis, concluding, "A more judicious examination could not lead to this sort of reductio ad absurdum."
Summarizing how Chinese authors used the word fangshi from the Han through the Song Dynasties, Sivin
lists four general criteria.
: Sima Qian
's (c. 91 BCE) Shiji 史記 Records of the Grand Historian
, Ban Gu
's (82 CE) Hanshu 漢書 Book of Han
, Chen Shou
's (289 CE) Sanguozhi 三國志 Records of Three Kingdoms
, and Fan Ye's (445 CE) Houhanshu 後漢書 Book of Later Han
. Campany (1983) translated fangshi biographies from the latter three histories, but some reviewers (e.g., Boltz 1985 and Harper 1986) criticized him for ignoring Ngo's (1976) French translation of the same biographies.
These historical texts document that during the late Warring States Period
(475-221 BCE), fangshi originated in northeastern China and specialized in xian
仙 "immortality; transcendence" techniques. During the Qin Dynasty
(221-206 BCE) and Han Dynasty
(206 BCE-220 CE), fangshi were patronized by emperors who sought the elixir of immortality. By the middle of the Six Dynasties Period
(220-569 CE), the role of fangshi had declined and their techniques had been adapted into Daoist religion and traditional Chinese medicine
.
The word fangshi first appears in the Fengshan shu 封禪書 "Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" of the "Records of the Grand Historian". This context concerns Qin Shi Huang
(r. 221-210 BCE), the first Qin emperor traveling and performing sacrifices in the northeastern coastal states of Qi
齊 and Yan
燕 (present-day Shandong
, Hebei
, and Liaoning
). During the era of King Wei
(r. c. 356-320 BCE) and King Xuan (r. 319-301 BCE) of Qi and King Zhao (r. 311-279 BCE) of Yan, fangshi claimed to have studied the techniques of Zou Yan
, who systematized Yin-Yang and the Five Phases
.
Compare Welch's (1957:96) translation, "they practiced the Tao of recipes and immortality (fang hsien tao [方僊道]). Their bodies were released, dissolved, and transformed. They relied on serving ghosts (kuei [鬼]) and spirits (shen [神])." These early fangshi asserted to know of three divine mountains where the elixir of immortality existed, Penglai 蓬萊, Fangzhang 方丈, and Yingzhou 瀛洲 in the Bohai Sea
.
The Shiji also records that the Qin emperor dispatched the fangshi Xu Fu
徐福 to obtain the elixir of life from the xian Anqi Sheng
who lived on Mount Penglai in 219 BCE, and then sent Lu Sheng 盧生 "Master Lu" in 215 BCE. The emperor subsequently dispatched three other fangshi expeditions to the spirit islands, but none returned to China.
Emperor Wu of Han
(r. 141-87 BCE) lavishly patronized fangshi, writes DeWoskin (1985:378), "to such an extent that virtually anyone with a plausible 'secret tradition' rushed to court to collect his reward." Emperor Wu's uncle and advisor Liu An
(179-122 BCE, compiler of the Huainanzi
) gathered "several thousand" fangshi and compiled their techniques of shenxian 神仙 "spirit transcendence" and huangbai 黃白 "alchemy ". Two famous fangshi advised Emperor Wu to emulate the legendary Yellow Emperor
's practices. The alchemist Li Shaojun 李少君 attempted to recreate the Yellow Emperor's rite to transform cinnabar into gold. The architect Gongyu Dai 公玉帶 claimed to have the Yellow Emperor's plans for a 12-story pentagonal hall, which Emperor Wu had rebuilt in 102 BCE.
Csikszentmihalyi (2008:407-408) elucidates the fangshi category's chronological development by contrasting its place in these early Chinese histories. In the Records of the Grand Historian, "the methods (fang 方) used by the fangshi generally concerned demons and spirits: methods for retreating from old age (quelao fang 却老方), methods involving demons and gods (guishen fang 鬼神方), and methods for gods, monsters and anomalies (shen guai qi fang 神怪奇方)." The Book of Later Han chapter on fangshi broadened the category to include omen and portent techniques such as fengjiao 風角 "wind angles". The Records of Three Kingdoms combined the Han historical categories of fangshi 方士 and shushu 數術 "numbers and arts" (divination and omenology) into a chapter on fangshu 方術 "methods and arts". "Thus, the fangshi, originally experts in matters of the spirits, came by the late Han to include the ubiquitous experts in detecting shifts in the balance of the natural world."
遁甲 "Evading Stems; sexagenary cycle
divination" and wuyi 巫醫 "Medium Healing; shamanic medicine"), while others are obscure. For instance, DeWoskin explains fengjiao 風角 "Wind Angles" divination.
Csikszentmihalyi (2008:408) clarifies fengjiao. "This practice, which may date back to the Shang dynasty, involves using the temperature, strength, and changes in direction in seasonal winds to determine the local increase and decrease in Yin and Yang qi." The Yinqueshan Han Slips
, discovered in 1972, contain manuscripts about fengjiao and nayin 納音 "Matching Sounds".
Citing examples of the techniques named tuibu 推步 "astrology
" and tingzhuan 筳篿 "cleromancy
", Harper says "inaccuracy abounds" in DeWoskin's translations.
Some fangshi practices like shefu 射覆 "shoot cover" were closer to parlor magic
than esoteric techniques. DeWoskin explains
The term fangshi sometimes occurs in contemporary usage. For instance, Wong
(1992) applies the fangshi tradition to explain the author Liu E
劉鶚 and his (1904) novel the Travels of Lao Can.
), Daoist movements (e.g., Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
), Chinese alchemy
(both internal Neidan
and external Waidan), Buddhist meditation
, and traditional Chinese medicine
.
"The genealogy of the fangshi is complex", Robinet (1997:37) writes. "They go back to the archivist-soothsayers of antiquity, one of whom supposedly was Laozi himself; under the Shang and Zhou they were the only ones who knew divination and writing." DeWoskin describes how the fangshi consolidated several ancient Chinese traditions.
Daoist religions appropriated many fangshi techniques. Holmes Welch hypothesized that Daoism was a river that united four streams of philosophy, hygiene, alchemy, and Penglai mythology. Fangshi are associated with the latter two.
Welch (1957:96-97) concludes that fangshi developed alchemy, "although Tsou Yen gradually acquired alchemistical stature, he himself knew nothing of the art. It was probably developed by those of his followers who became interested in physical experimentation with the Five Elements. The first elixir they developed was cinnabar, or mercuric sulphide."
Joseph Needham
traced the origins of Daoism to an alliance between fangshi, wu 巫 "shamans; doctors" and philosophers such as Laozi
and Zhuangzi
:
Needham defined his "carefully chosen" words: macrobiotics "the belief that, with the aid of botany, zoology, mineralogy, and alchemy, it is possible to prepare drugs or elixirs which will prolong life, giving longevity (shou 壽) or immortality (pu ssu 不死)" and aurifaction "the belief that it is possible to make gold from other quite different substances, notably the ignoble metals".
Csikszentmihalyi summarizes Daoist-fangshi connections,
Alchemist
An alchemist is a person who practices alchemy. Alchemist may also refer to:-People and groups:*The Alchemist , a hip hop music producer and rapper*Alchemist , an Australian progressive metal band...
, astrologer
Astrologer
An astrologer practices one or more forms of astrology. Typically an astrologer draws a horoscope for the time of an event, such as a person's birth, and interprets celestial points and their placements at the time of the event to better understand someone, determine the auspiciousness of an...
, diviner
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
, exorcist
Exorcist
In some religions an exorcist is a person who is believed to be able to cast out the devil or other demons. A priest, a nun, a monk, a healer, a shaman or other specially prepared or instructed person can be an exorcist...
, geomancer, doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, magician, mountebank
Charlatan
A charlatan is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception....
, monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
, mystic
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
, necromancer, occultist, omen
Omen
An omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change...
ologist, physician
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
, physiognomist, technician
Technician
A technician is a worker in a field of technology who is proficient in the relevant skills and techniques, with a relatively practical understanding of the theoretical principles. Experienced technicians in a specific tool domain typically have intermediate understanding of theory and expert...
, technologist
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, thaumaturge, and wizard.
Word
The ChineseChinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
word fangshi 方士 combines fang 方 "direction; side; locality; place; region; formula; (medical) prescription; recipe; method; way" and shi 士 "scholar; intelligentsia; gentleman; officer; yeoman; soldier; person trained in a certain field".
Many English-language texts transliterate this word as fangshi or fang-shih, but some literally translate it.
- "gentlemen possessing magical recipes" (Needham 1956:134)
- "recipe gentlemen" (Welch 1957:96)
- "masters of recipes" (Harper 1986:394)
- "'direction-scholar', that is, one versed in interpreting omens from their orientation" (Walters 1986:304) [from fengjiao "wind angle" divination below]
- "Esoteric Masters" (Roth 1991:604)
- "gentleman who possess techniques, technician" (Sivin 1995:27)
- "masters of recipes and methods" (Sakade 2000:545)
- "masters of methods" (Csikszentmihalyi 2008:406)
- "masters of esoterica" (Campany 2009:33)
Fangshi "is an elusive term that defies a consistent translation" (Toh 2010:4).
There is general agreement that the shi in fangshi 方士 means "master; gentleman; trained specialist" (cf. Daoshi 道士 "Daoist priest; diviner"), but considerable disagreement about the meaning of fang.
The etymology of fangshi is "subject to various interpretations", writes DeWoskin.
By the end of the Later Chou, there are several occurrences of the word "fang" in two new binomes, fang-shu [方書] and fang-shuo [方說], literally, "fang books" and "fang theories". The word "fang" in its various common contexts meant "efficacious," "formulaic," "parallel," "correlative," "comparative," "medicinal," "spiritual," or "esoteric." Throughout archaic times, the word also occurs commonly in the compound ssu-fang [四方], meaning four outlying areas, and hence refers to people, places, and cultures removed from the central court. Each of these meanings is potentially a factor in the etymology of the term." (1983:1-2)
Harper says "DeWoskin's attempt at a definition for fang shih which admits every possible meaning of fang into its analysis renders the term meaningless".
Whatever fang or shih as separate words meant in an earlier period, when they were combined to form the name for wonder-workers who gathered at the Ch'in and Han courts, the name expressed some essential quality of these people. Automatically most of the meanings for fang which DeWoskin claims are "potentially a factor in the etymology of the term" can be eliminated, especially the series "parallel, correlative, comparative." In analyzing the term fang shih, earlier scholars have focused primarily on the meaning "method" or "tablet on which a method is recorded, recipe," in which case fang shih means "master possessing methods" or "master possessing recipes." (1986:395)
Based upon words that Han texts use to describe occult practices, fangshu 方書 "recipe book; treatise on an art/skill; collection of medical prescriptions" and fangban 方板 "recipe tablet; treatise on an art/skill", Harper concludes, "The possession of writings containing occult knowledge which might be revealed to select patrons was the chief characteristic of all who were known as fang shih."
Describing the background of fangshi, DeWoskin suggests an "other" etymology.
It is possible to group the antecedents of fang-shih thought and techniques into three distinct areas: astrology and calendrics; the practices of wu mediums and conjury; and pharmaceutical and hygienic medicine. Virtually all the fang-shih prominent enough to be included in dynastic histories specialized in only one of these areas. Because the three areas are not historically related, and the typical fang-shih does not embrace them all, the grouping suggests that the common sense of the name fang-shih was somewhat akin to "others," and did not attach to any readily definable school or tradition. (1983:6)
Harper also faults this hypothesis, concluding, "A more judicious examination could not lead to this sort of reductio ad absurdum."
Summarizing how Chinese authors used the word fangshi from the Han through the Song Dynasties, Sivin
Nathan Sivin
Nathan Sivin , also known as Xiwen is an American author, scholar, sinologist, historian, essayist, and currently professor emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania...
lists four general criteria.
- The fang-shih usually belonged to the tiny privileged segment of the population who could read books and leave records. The writings we have, not a random sample, are of high literary quality. Early stories about technicians often have them confounding philosophers. The fang-shih usually came from a family that we know held official rank, even in periods when such rank was normally hereditary.
- The fang-shih himself did not usually hold high rank in the regular civil service. If he did, it tended to be obtained irregularly, most often as an imperial gesture. Someone who reached a high post through a conventional career, although he might have considerable mechanical skill, scientific knowledge, or mastery of the occult, was not often called a fang-shih. …
- The fang-shih did not strive for the personal goals that the well-born expected of their own kind. He usually held conventional moral and political opinions, if we can rely on the record, but the stigma of inappropriate technical enthusiasms, however faint, is commonly visible. Someone in a conspicuous position of orthodoxy, regardless of technical expertise, was not considered a fang-shih.
- The fang-shih had powers only rarely seen in the orthodox literatus – to foresee the future, to arrogate to himself the shaping and transforming powers of natural process (tsao hua 造化), and so on. At the same time descriptions of him never limn the full humanity, the mastery of the social Way, of the more conventional great. (1995:28-9)
History
Fangshi are first recorded in early Chinese canonical Twenty-Four HistoriesTwenty-Four Histories
The Twenty-Four Histories is a collection of Chinese historical books covering a period from 3000 BC to the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. The whole set contains 3213 volumes and about 40 million words...
: Sima Qian
Sima Qian
Sima Qian was a Prefect of the Grand Scribes of the Han Dynasty. He is regarded as the father of Chinese historiography for his highly praised work, Records of the Grand Historian , a "Jizhuanti"-style general history of China, covering more than two thousand years from the Yellow Emperor to...
's (c. 91 BCE) Shiji 史記 Records of the Grand Historian
Records of the Grand Historian
The Records of the Grand Historian, also known in English by the Chinese name Shiji , written from 109 BC to 91 BC, was the Magnum opus of Sima Qian, in which he recounted Chinese history from the time of the Yellow Emperor until his own time...
, Ban Gu
Ban Gu
Ban Gu , courtesy name Mengjian , was a 1st century Chinese historian and poet best known for his part in compiling the Book of Han. He also wrote in the main poetic genre of the Han era, a kind of poetry interspersed with prose called fu. Some are anthologized by Xiao Tong in his Selections of...
's (82 CE) Hanshu 漢書 Book of Han
Book of Han
The Book of Han, Hanshu or History of the Former Han Dynasty |Fan Ye]] . Various scholars have estimated that the earliest material covered in the book dates back to between 206 and 202 BCE...
, Chen Shou
Chen Shou
Chen Shou was a historian during the Jin Dynasty period of Chinese history. He is best known as the author of Records of Three Kingdoms, a historical account of the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms period.-Biography:...
's (289 CE) Sanguozhi 三國志 Records of Three Kingdoms
Records of Three Kingdoms
Records of Three Kingdoms , is regarded as the official and authoritative historical text on the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history covering the years 184-280 CE. Written by Chen Shou in the 3rd century, the work combines the smaller histories of the rival states of Cao Wei , Shu Han and...
, and Fan Ye's (445 CE) Houhanshu 後漢書 Book of Later Han
Book of Later Han
The Book of the Later Han or the History of the Later Han is one of the official Chinese historical works which was compiled by Fan Ye in the 5th century, using a number of earlier histories and documents as sources...
. Campany (1983) translated fangshi biographies from the latter three histories, but some reviewers (e.g., Boltz 1985 and Harper 1986) criticized him for ignoring Ngo's (1976) French translation of the same biographies.
These historical texts document that during the late Warring States Period
Warring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
(475-221 BCE), fangshi originated in northeastern China and specialized in xian
Xian (Taoism)
Xian is a Chinese word for an enlightened person, translatable in English as:*"spiritually immortal; transcendent; super-human; celestial being"...
仙 "immortality; transcendence" techniques. During the Qin Dynasty
Qin Dynasty
The Qin Dynasty was the first imperial dynasty of China, lasting from 221 to 207 BC. The Qin state derived its name from its heartland of Qin, in modern-day Shaanxi. The strength of the Qin state was greatly increased by the legalist reforms of Shang Yang in the 4th century BC, during the Warring...
(221-206 BCE) and Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(206 BCE-220 CE), fangshi were patronized by emperors who sought the elixir of immortality. By the middle of the Six Dynasties Period
Six Dynasties
Six Dynasties is a collective noun for six Chinese dynasties during the periods of the Three Kingdoms , Jin Dynasty , and Southern and Northern Dynasties ....
(220-569 CE), the role of fangshi had declined and their techniques had been adapted into Daoist religion and traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
.
The word fangshi first appears in the Fengshan shu 封禪書 "Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" of the "Records of the Grand Historian". This context concerns Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang
Qin Shi Huang , personal name Ying Zheng , was king of the Chinese State of Qin from 246 BC to 221 BC during the Warring States Period. He became the first emperor of a unified China in 221 BC...
(r. 221-210 BCE), the first Qin emperor traveling and performing sacrifices in the northeastern coastal states of Qi
Qi (state)
Qi was a powerful state during the Spring and Autumn Period and Period of the Warring States in ancient China. Its capital was Linzi, now part of the modern day city of Zibo in Shandong Province....
齊 and Yan
Yan (state)
Yān was a state during the Western Zhou, Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history. Its capital was Ji...
燕 (present-day Shandong
Shandong
' is a Province located on the eastern coast of the People's Republic of China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history from the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River and served as a pivotal cultural and religious site for Taoism, Chinese...
, Hebei
Hebei
' is a province of the People's Republic of China in the North China region. Its one-character abbreviation is "" , named after Ji Province, a Han Dynasty province that included what is now southern Hebei...
, and Liaoning
Liaoning
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the northeast of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "辽" , a name taken from the Liao River that flows through the province. "Níng" means "peace"...
). During the era of King Wei
King Wei of Qi
King Wei of Qi , whose personal name was Tian Yinqi , was the king of the northern Chinese state of Qi during the Warring States Period, when Qi was one of the most powerful states in China. He reigned from 356 to 320 BC. or according to another source from 378 to 343 BC.His successor was King Xuan...
(r. c. 356-320 BCE) and King Xuan (r. 319-301 BCE) of Qi and King Zhao (r. 311-279 BCE) of Yan, fangshi claimed to have studied the techniques of Zou Yan
Zou Yan
Zou Yan was the representative thinker of the Yin and Yang during the Hundred Schools of Thought era in Chinese philosophy. Zou Yan was a noted scholar of the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi...
, who systematized Yin-Yang and the Five Phases
Five elements (Chinese philosophy)
The Wu Xing, also known as the Five Phases, the Five Agents, the Five Movements, and the Five Steps/Stages, are chiefly an ancient mnemonic device, in many traditional Chinese fields....
.
Song Wuji, Zhengbo Qiao, Chong Shang, Xianmen Gao, and Zui Hou were all men of Yan who practiced magic and followed the way of the immortals, discarding their mortal forms and changing into spiritual beings by means of supernatural aid. Zou Yan won fame among the feudal lords for his theories of the yin and yang and the succession of the five elements, but the [方士] magicians who lived along the seacoast of Qi and Yan, though they claimed to transmit his teachings, were unable to understand them. Thus from this time there appeared a host of men, too numerous to mention, who expounded all sorts of weird and fantastic theories and went to any lengths to flatter the rulers of the day and to ingratiate themselves with them. (tr. Watson 1996:14)
Compare Welch's (1957:96) translation, "they practiced the Tao of recipes and immortality (fang hsien tao [方僊道]). Their bodies were released, dissolved, and transformed. They relied on serving ghosts (kuei [鬼]) and spirits (shen [神])." These early fangshi asserted to know of three divine mountains where the elixir of immortality existed, Penglai 蓬萊, Fangzhang 方丈, and Yingzhou 瀛洲 in the Bohai Sea
Bohai Sea
Bohai Sea , also known as Bohai Gulf, Bohai, or Bo Hai, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of Northeastern and North China. It is approximately 78,000 km2 Bohai Sea , also known as Bohai Gulf, Bohai, or Bo Hai, is the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea on the coast of...
.
From the age of Kings Wei and Xuan of Qi and King Zhao of Yan, men were sent from time to time to set out to sea and search for the islands of Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou. These were three spirit mountains which were supposed to exist in the Gulf of Bohai. They were not very far from the land of men, it was said, but the difficulty was that, whenever a boat was about to touch their shores, a wind would always spring up and drive it away. In the past, people said, there had been men who succeeded in reaching the, and found them peopled by fairy sprits who possessed the elixir of immortality. All the plants and birds and animals of the islands were white, and the palaces and gates were made of gold and silver. Seen from afar, the three spirit mountains looked like clouds but, as one drew closer, they seemed instead to be down under the water. In any event, as soon as anyone got near to them, the wind would suddenly come and drag the boat away, so that in the end no one could ever reach them. (tr. Watson 1996:14)
The Shiji also records that the Qin emperor dispatched the fangshi Xu Fu
Xu Fu
Xú Fú ; was born in 255 BC in Qi, and served as a court sorcerer in Qin Dynasty China. He was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eastern seas twice to look for the elixir of life. His two journeys occurred between 219 BC and 210 BC. It was believed that the fleet included 60 barques and around 5,000 crew...
徐福 to obtain the elixir of life from the xian Anqi Sheng
Anqi Sheng
Anqi Sheng was a legendary Chinese immortal, said to be already 1,000 years old at the time of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor.He was said to inhabit Mount Penglai. Anqi appears to have been a magician, and possessed the power of rendering himself visible or invisible at pleasure...
who lived on Mount Penglai in 219 BCE, and then sent Lu Sheng 盧生 "Master Lu" in 215 BCE. The emperor subsequently dispatched three other fangshi expeditions to the spirit islands, but none returned to China.
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han
Emperor Wu of Han , , personal name Liu Che , was the seventh emperor of the Han Dynasty of China, ruling from 141 BC to 87 BC. Emperor Wu is best remembered for the vast territorial expansion that occurred under his reign, as well as the strong and centralized Confucian state he organized...
(r. 141-87 BCE) lavishly patronized fangshi, writes DeWoskin (1985:378), "to such an extent that virtually anyone with a plausible 'secret tradition' rushed to court to collect his reward." Emperor Wu's uncle and advisor Liu An
Liu An
Líu Ān was a Chinese prince and advisor to his nephew, Emperor Wu of Han of the Han Dynasty in China and the legendary inventor of t'ai chi...
(179-122 BCE, compiler of the Huainanzi
Huainanzi
The Huáinánzǐ is a 2nd century BCE Chinese philosophical classic from the Han dynasty that blends Daoist, Confucianist, and Legalist concepts, including theories such as Yin-Yang and the Five Phases. It was written under the patronage of Liu An, Prince of Huainan, a legendarily prodigious author...
) gathered "several thousand" fangshi and compiled their techniques of shenxian 神仙 "spirit transcendence" and huangbai 黃白 "alchemy ". Two famous fangshi advised Emperor Wu to emulate the legendary Yellow Emperor
Yellow Emperor
The Yellow Emperor or Huangdi1 is a legendary Chinese sovereign and culture hero, included among the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Tradition holds that he reigned from 2697–2597 or 2696–2598 BC...
's practices. The alchemist Li Shaojun 李少君 attempted to recreate the Yellow Emperor's rite to transform cinnabar into gold. The architect Gongyu Dai 公玉帶 claimed to have the Yellow Emperor's plans for a 12-story pentagonal hall, which Emperor Wu had rebuilt in 102 BCE.
Csikszentmihalyi (2008:407-408) elucidates the fangshi category's chronological development by contrasting its place in these early Chinese histories. In the Records of the Grand Historian, "the methods (fang 方) used by the fangshi generally concerned demons and spirits: methods for retreating from old age (quelao fang 却老方), methods involving demons and gods (guishen fang 鬼神方), and methods for gods, monsters and anomalies (shen guai qi fang 神怪奇方)." The Book of Later Han chapter on fangshi broadened the category to include omen and portent techniques such as fengjiao 風角 "wind angles". The Records of Three Kingdoms combined the Han historical categories of fangshi 方士 and shushu 數術 "numbers and arts" (divination and omenology) into a chapter on fangshu 方術 "methods and arts". "Thus, the fangshi, originally experts in matters of the spirits, came by the late Han to include the ubiquitous experts in detecting shifts in the balance of the natural world."
Techniques
Fangshi employed numerous techniques, methods, and practices. DeWoskin (1983:22-29) lists forty-two mentioned in historical biographies of fangshi. Some are familiar (e.g., dunjiaQi Men Dun Jia
Qi Men Dun Jia is an ancient form of divination from China, which is still in use in China, Taiwan, Singapore and the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia...
遁甲 "Evading Stems; sexagenary cycle
Sexagenary cycle
The Chinese sexagenary cycle , also known as the Stems-and-Branches , is a cycle of sixty terms used for recording days or years. It appears, as a means of recording days, in the first Chinese written texts, the Shang dynasty oracle bones from the late second millennium BC. Its use to record years...
divination" and wuyi 巫醫 "Medium Healing; shamanic medicine"), while others are obscure. For instance, DeWoskin explains fengjiao 風角 "Wind Angles" divination.
Wind Angles (Feng-chiao): The wind from eight angles (four sides and four corners) is observed for its direction, strength, and other qualities. … The nature of the analysis is still to be determined, but some sources link the practice to expertise in the five tones (wu-yin), specifically the ability to hear and differentiate pitches that are inaudible to most people. (1983:27)
Csikszentmihalyi (2008:408) clarifies fengjiao. "This practice, which may date back to the Shang dynasty, involves using the temperature, strength, and changes in direction in seasonal winds to determine the local increase and decrease in Yin and Yang qi." The Yinqueshan Han Slips
Yinqueshan Han Slips
The Yinqueshan Han Slips are ancient Chinese writing tablets, made of bamboo strips and were discovered in 1972. The tablets contain many important writings that were not previously known, and important copies of existing work....
, discovered in 1972, contain manuscripts about fengjiao and nayin 納音 "Matching Sounds".
Citing examples of the techniques named tuibu 推步 "astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
" and tingzhuan 筳篿 "cleromancy
Cleromancy
Cleromancy is a form of divination using sortition, casting of lots, or casting bones or stones, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God, or other supernatural entities.-In...
", Harper says "inaccuracy abounds" in DeWoskin's translations.
What is the reader to think, for example, when DeWoskin translates the term t'ui pu as "astral influences" and explains that it relates to "projections from sky readings" (p. 23)? A more literal rendering of t'ui pu would be "plotting the paces" and the term refers primarily to determining the paths of the sun, moon, and planets. T'ing chuan ("bamboo twisters" in DeWoskin's translation) is identified as "a type of crack making" and DeWoskin gives the following fuller description of the technique: "This technique is one of a number of crack and fracture-reading approaches. Sections of bamboo are broken and the resultant cracks are read" (p. 27). In fact, t'ing chuan refers to a form of divination by lots, similar to divination with yarrow stalks, in which the counters are slivers of broken bamboo or sometimes twigs broken off plants. DeWoskin appears to have made up his own explanation. His brief summations of other techniques are similarly uninformative or inaccurate. (1986:396)
Some fangshi practices like shefu 射覆 "shoot cover" were closer to parlor magic
Parlor magic
Parlor magic is done for larger audiences than close-up magic and for smaller audiences than stage magic. In parlor magic, the performer is usually standing and on the same level as the audience, which may be seated on chairs or even on the floor. According to the Encyclopedia of Magic and...
than esoteric techniques. DeWoskin explains
The repertory by which fang-shih won their patronage included not only storytelling, but glib dissertations on astrology, omenology, and esoteric philosophy and various performances of magical arts. The histories record many instances of a fang-shih challenge game, she-fu 射覆, where masters the likes of Tung-fang Shuo, Kuan Lu 管輅, and Guo P'u 郭璞 (276-324) guessed the identity of hidden objects before gatherings of dinner guests or skeptical officials. (1985:379)
Notable fangshi
Many famous fangshi "method masters" are considered Daoists.- Xu FuXu FuXú Fú ; was born in 255 BC in Qi, and served as a court sorcerer in Qin Dynasty China. He was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eastern seas twice to look for the elixir of life. His two journeys occurred between 219 BC and 210 BC. It was believed that the fleet included 60 barques and around 5,000 crew...
徐福 (fl. 219-210 BCE), sent by Qin Shi Huang to find elixir of immortality - Luan DaLuan DaLuan Da was a religious figure during the early Han Dynasty from the state of Yue. He professed to know the secret to immortality and be able to communicate with spiritual beings. Possessing the gift of gab and adept at confidence tricks, Luan Da gained the favour of Emperor Wu of Han, also known...
栾大 (d. 112 BCE), professed to know the secret to immortality - Gan JiGan JiGan Ji was a Taoist priest who lived during the late Han Dynasty period of Chinese history.According to the Book of Later Han, during the reign of the Emperor Shun of Han , Gan Ji's disciples Gong Chong submitted the Taiping Qingling Shu to the emperor.Some believe that the character Yu Ji ...
于吉 (c. 2nd century CE), Daoist priest - Zuo CiZuo CiZuo Ci is a legendary personage of the late Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms periods of Chinese history. Though he is known as a local of Lujiang, the years of his birth and death are unknown. It is believed that he had existed before the collapse of the Han Dynasty, and it is claimed that he lived...
左慈 (c. 3rd century CE), Daoist master, teacher of Ge Xuan - Ge XuanGe XuanGe Xuan was a Chinese Taoist. He was the ancestor of Ge Hong and a resident of Danyang in the state of Eastern Wu during the period of the Three Kingdoms; namely 220–280 CE. Ge Xuan's paternal grandnephew, Ge Hong, titled him Ge Xian Gong, which translates into "Immortal Lord" or "Transcendent Duke"...
葛玄 (164-244), Daoist master, grandfather of Ge Hong - Guan LuGuan LuGuan Lu was a famed practicer of divination during the Three Kingdoms era of China. At one time Governor Wang Ji of Anping heard of the fame of Guan Lu and invited him to come on a visit, in which he went...
管輅 (209-256), famous diviner - Guo PuGuo PuGuo Pu , courtesy name Jingchun , born in Yuncheng, Shanxi, was a Chinese writer.-Biography:Guo Pu was a Taoist mystic, geomancer, collector of strange tales, editor of old texts, and erudite commentator...
郭璞 (276-324), commentator and author - Ge HongGe HongGe Hong , courtesy name Zhichuan , was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty of China, best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity...
葛洪 (283–343), Daoist author of the BaopuziBaopuziThe Baopuzi , written by the Jin Dynasty scholar Ge Hong 葛洪 , is divided into esoteric Neipian 內篇 "Inner Chapters" and exoteric Waipian 外篇 "Outer Chapters". The Daoist Inner Chapters discuss topics such as techniques for xian 仙 "immortality; transcendence", Chinese alchemy, elixirs, and demonology... - Elder Zhang GuoElder Zhang Guo"Elder Zhang Guo" or "Zhang Guo Lao" is one of the Eight Immortals. Of the Eight Immortals he, along with Chung-li Ch'uan and Lu Yen, was a real historical figure; the rest exist only in legend...
張果老, (c. mid 8th century), one of the Eight ImmortalsEight ImmortalsThe Eight Immortals are a group of legendary xian in Chinese mythology. Each Immortal's power can be transferred to a power tool that can give life or destroy evil. Together, these eight tools are called "Covert Eight Immortals" . Most of them are said to have been born in the Tang Dynasty or... - Chen Tuan 陳摶 (c. 920-989), Daoist master, originator of Liuhebafa gungfu
The term fangshi sometimes occurs in contemporary usage. For instance, Wong
Timothy C. Wong
Timothy C. Wong, Ph.D is a sinologist, translator, and literary theorist.Dr. Wong received his Ph.D from Stanford University. He has taught at The Ohio State University and at Arizona State University, Tempe, where he has held the title of Professor of Chinese since 1995. He was also the...
(1992) applies the fangshi tradition to explain the author Liu E
Liu E
Liu E , courtesy name/"zì": "Tieyun" , was a Chinese scholar, entrepreneur, and writer.-Government and politics:...
劉鶚 and his (1904) novel the Travels of Lao Can.
Connections
The fangshi tradition has diverse origins and affiliations. When first recorded around the fourth century BCE, fangshi were connected with Zhou dynasty astrology, divination, and record-keeping. During the Qin and Han dynasties, fangshi developed many new techniques, which were gradually absorbed by Daoist religions (e.g., Shangqing SchoolShangqing School
The Shangqing School or Supreme Clarity is a Daoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was Wei Huacun , but Tao Hongjing, who structured the theory and...
), Daoist movements (e.g., Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
Way of the Five Pecks of Rice
Way of the Five Pecks of Rice or the Way of the Celestial Master, commonly abbreviated to simply The Celestial Masters, is a Chinese Taoist movement that was founded by the first Celestial Master Zhang Daoling in 142 CE. At its height, the movement controlled a theocratic state in the Hanzhong...
), Chinese alchemy
Chinese alchemy
Chinese alchemy, a part of the larger tradition of Taoism, centers on the tradition of body-spirit cultivation that developed through the Chinese understandings of medicine and the body. These Chinese traditions were developed into a system of energy practices...
(both internal Neidan
Neidan
Neidan, or internal alchemy, spiritual alchemy is a concept in Taoist Chinese alchemy. It is a series of physical, mental, and spiritual disciplines intended to prolong the life of the body and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death.In Neidan the human body becomes a...
and external Waidan), Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation
Buddhist meditation refers to the meditative practices associated with the religion and philosophy of Buddhism.Core meditation techniques have been preserved in ancient Buddhist texts and have proliferated and diversified through teacher-student transmissions. Buddhists pursue meditation as part of...
, and traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
.
"The genealogy of the fangshi is complex", Robinet (1997:37) writes. "They go back to the archivist-soothsayers of antiquity, one of whom supposedly was Laozi himself; under the Shang and Zhou they were the only ones who knew divination and writing." DeWoskin describes how the fangshi consolidated several ancient Chinese traditions.
Their divination practices can be traced back to late Shang-dynasty oracle-bone culture, Chou-dynasty milfoil-stalk procedures, and Chou astrological and calendric technology. This historical connection between divination practices, especially calendric and astrological types, and the chronicling of events is reflected in the conspicuous literacy of the fang-shih and their propensity for authoring biographical, geographical, and other narratives. Their medical practices combine elements of the Confucian medical tradition (ju-i 儒醫) and popular medical practices, derived in large part from shamanic ritual. Hence they practiced a range of therapies from acupuncture and pharmacology to incantation and talismanic exorcism. Their immortality practices encompass both alchemical (wai-tan 外丹) and hygienic (nei-tan 內丹) techniques adumbrated in the Taoist classics and elaborated in the emerging religious Taoist movements. (1985:379)
Daoist religions appropriated many fangshi techniques. Holmes Welch hypothesized that Daoism was a river that united four streams of philosophy, hygiene, alchemy, and Penglai mythology. Fangshi are associated with the latter two.
It was probably between 350 and 250 B.C. that the names of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Lieh Tzu became associated with what we shall call "philosophical Taoism"; their books testified in turn to the existence of a "hygiene school," which cultivated longevity through breathing exercises and gymnastics; early in the same period the theory of the Five Elements was propounded by Tsou Yen, whose followers are thought to have started research on the elixir of life; and lastly, along the northeastern coasts of China, ships began to sail out in search of the Isles of the Blest, hoping to return with the mushroom that "prevented death". (1957:89-90)
Welch (1957:96-97) concludes that fangshi developed alchemy, "although Tsou Yen gradually acquired alchemistical stature, he himself knew nothing of the art. It was probably developed by those of his followers who became interested in physical experimentation with the Five Elements. The first elixir they developed was cinnabar, or mercuric sulphide."
Joseph Needham
Joseph Needham
Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham, CH, FRS, FBA , also known as Li Yuese , was a British scientist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1941, and as a fellow of the British...
traced the origins of Daoism to an alliance between fangshi, wu 巫 "shamans; doctors" and philosophers such as Laozi
Laozi
Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
and Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, a period corresponding to the philosophical summit of Chinese thought — the Hundred Schools of Thought, and is credited with writing—in part or in whole—a work known by his name,...
:
At the heart of ancient Taoism there was an artisanal element, for both the wizards and the philosophers were convinced that important and useful things could be achieved by using one's hands. They did not participate in the mentality of the Confucian scholar-administrator, who sat on high in his tribunal issuing orders and never employing his hands except in reading and writing. This is why it came about that wherever in ancient China one finds the sprouts of any of the natural sciences the Taoists are sure to be involved. The fang shih 方士 or 'gentlemen possessing magical recipes' were certainly Taoist, and they worked in all kinds of directions as star-clerk and weather-forecasters, men of farm-lore and wort-cunning, irrigators and bridge-builders, architects and decorators, but above all alchemists. Indeed the beginning of all alchemy rests with them if we define it, as surely we should, as the combination of macrobiotics and aurifaction. (2000:58)
Needham defined his "carefully chosen" words: macrobiotics "the belief that, with the aid of botany, zoology, mineralogy, and alchemy, it is possible to prepare drugs or elixirs which will prolong life, giving longevity (shou 壽) or immortality (pu ssu 不死)" and aurifaction "the belief that it is possible to make gold from other quite different substances, notably the ignoble metals".
Csikszentmihalyi summarizes Daoist-fangshi connections,
The "methods" of the fangshi may be seen as forerunners of organized Taoist practices on several levels. In the Han, the concept of the Dao served to explain the efficacy of the myriad of newly forming disciplines, and many of these disciplines were the province of the fangshi. This explains why the term daoshi (道士 masters of the Dao) was already beginning to replace the term fangshi (方士) in the Hanshu, resulting in its gradual eclipse of the latter term. On a more concrete level, many specific techniques of spirit transcendence, medicine, and alchemy initially used by fangshi found their way into later Taoist practice. (2008:408-9)
External links
- Fang Shih, Overview of World Religions