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Gu (poison)
Encyclopedia
Gu or jincan was a venom
-based poison
associated with cultures of south China
, particularly Nanyue
. The traditional preparation of gu poison involved sealing several venomous creatures (e.g., centipede
, snake
, scorpion
) into a closed utensil, where they devoured one another and allegedly concentrated their toxins into a single survivor. Gu was used in black magic
practices such as manipulating sexual partners, creating malignant diseases, and causing death. According to Chinese folklore
, a gu spirit could transform into various animals, typically a worm, caterpillar, snake, frog, dog, or pig.
oracle inscriptions recorded the name gu, while 7th-century CE Tang Dynasty
texts first used jincan "gold silkworm".
Chong 虫 or 蟲 (originally a "snake; worm" pictogram
) "insect; bug; pest; worm; spider; amphibian; reptile; dragon; etc." denotes a Chinese folk taxonomy
lacking an adequate English translation
equivalent. Carr (1983:7) proposes translating chong as "wug" – Brown's (1979) portmanteau word
(from worm + bug) bridging the lexical gap
for the linguistically widespread "class of miscellaneous animals including insects, spiders, and small reptiles and amphibians". Contrast the Wug test
for investigating language acquisition
of plurals in English morphology
. Note that "wug" will translate chong below.
The Traditional Chinese character
蠱 and the Simplified 蛊 for gu "demonic poison" are "wugs inside in a container" ideogram
s that combine chong 蟲 or 虫 "wug" and min 皿 "jar; cup; dish; utensil". Early written forms of gu 蠱 range from (ca. 14th-11th centuries BCE) Oracle bone script
to (ca. 3rd century BCE) Seal script
characters. The Oracle characters had two or one 虫 "wug" elements inside a container, while the Seal characters had three. Shima's (1958:386) concordance of oracle bone
inscriptions lists 23 occurrences of gu written with two wugs and 4 with one; many contexts are divinations about sickness. Marshall (2001:129) concludes, "The oracle-bone character of gu is used to refer to the evil power of the ancestors to cause illness in the living."
first recorded in the Tang Dynasty
. Li Xian's (7th century) commentary to the Hou Han Shu uses jincan as the name of a funerary decoration cast from gold, and the (9th century) author Su E 蘇鶚 describes it as a legendary golden-color caterpillar from Kashmir.
Eberhard (1968:149-150, cf. 153) connects gu, jincan, and other love charms with the Duanwu Festival that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calendar
, which is "the theoretical apogee of summer heat" (Groot 1910 5:851).
"For centuries, the Miao, particularly Miao women", writes Schein (2000:50-51), "have been feared for their mastery of the so-called gu poison, which is said to inflict death from a distance with excruciating slowness."
Groot (1910 5:854) quotes a Song Dynasty
description.
The Bencao Gangmu (tr. Groot 1910 5:850-851) quotes Cai Dao 蔡絛's (12th century) Tieweishan congtan 鐵圍山叢談 that "gold caterpillars first existed" in the Shu
region (present-day Sichuan
), and "only in recent times did they find their way into" Hubei
, Hunan
, Fujian
, Guangdong
, and Guanxi
. It also quotes (tr. Groot 1910 5:853-854) the Tang Dynasty
pharmacologist Chen Cangqi (713-741 CE) that:
dictionary defines 9 gu 蠱 meanings, plus the rare reading ye 蠱 "bewitchingly pretty; seductive; coquettish" [妖艳].
The (early 4th century BCE) Zuozhuan commentary to the (ca. 6th-5th centuries BCE) Chunqiu history provides an ancient example of 蠱's polysemy
. It records four gu meanings – 2.5 "grain which (molders and) flies away", 2.6 "insanity", 2.7 "delusion and disorder", and 2.9 "same [hexagram] name" – in a 541 BCE story (昭公1, tr. Legge 1872:580-581) about a physician named He 和"Harmony" from Qin
explaining gu to the ruler of Jin.
dictionary, cf. 2.3 below. It defines gu 蠱 as 腹中蟲也, literally "stomach middle wug", (tr. Loewe 1970:192) "insects within the stomach". However, Duan Yucai
's (1815 CE) commentary construes this definition as "afflicted by abdominal wugs"; and explains that instead of the usual readings zhōng 中 "middle; center; interior" and chóng 蟲 "wug", both terms should be read in entering tone
, namely zhòng 中 "hit (a target); be hit by" and zhòng 蟲 "wug bites".
The Zhouli ritual text (秋官司寇, tr. Groot 1910 5:826) describes a Shushi 庶氏 official who, "was charged with the duty of exterminating poisonous ku, attacking this with spells and thus exorcising it, as also with the duty of attacking it with efficacious herbs; all persons able to fight ku he was to employ according to their capacities." Zheng Xuan
's commentary explains dugu 毒蠱 "poisonous gu" as "wugs that cause sickness in people".
"dismemberment
(as tortuous capital punishment)" for criminals convicted of practicing gu-sorcery (see 2.6). Groot (1910 5:840) "Plate VI, Punishment of Cutting Asunder" provides a gruesome illustration. The Zhouli commentary of Zheng Xuan (cf. 2.2, tr. Loewe 1970:195) notes, "Those who dare to poison people with ku or teach others to do it will be publicly executed".
Eberhard (1968:152) says gu, "was also the soul of a dead person whose head had been pitted on a pole. This, too, fits later reports, in so far as the souls of ku victims often are mentioned as servants of the master of ku, if not ku itself served the master."
The Shuowen Jiezi (cf. 2.1 above, tr. Loewe 1970:195) also defines gu as "the spirits of convicted criminals whose heads had been exposed on stakes." This specialized torture term niejie 臬磔 combines nie "target" (which pictures a person's 自 "nose" on a 木 "tree; wooden stand") and jie 磔 "dismemberment". Compare the character for xian 縣 "county; district" that originated as a "place where dismembered criminals were publicly displayed" pictograph of an upside-down 首 "head" hanging on a 系 "rope" tied to a 木 "tree".
Groot (1910 5:828) suggests this meaning of gu, "seems to reveal to us a belief that such a soul, roaming restlessly about because of its corpse being mutilated, must be avenging itself on the living by settling in their intestines in the shape of the same maggots and grubs which gnaw away its decaying head."
Unschuld (1985:49-50) provides historical perspective.
that harms humans" refers to allegedly sickness-causing emanations of tropical miasma
. "There was also an ancient belief that ku diseases were induced by some sort of noxious mist or exhalation", writes Schafer (1967:102), "just as it was also believed that certain airs and winds could generate worms".
The Shiji (秦本紀, tr. Groot 1910 5:827) records that in 675 BCE, Duke De 德公 of Qin "suppressed ku at the commencement of the hottest summer-period by means of dogs. According to commentators, these animals were for the purpose butchered and affixed to the four gates of the capital." The Tang Dynasty commentary of Zhang Shoujie 張守節 explains gu as "hot, poisonous, evil, noxious qi that harms people". Displaying gu dogs at city gates reflects meaning 2.3 above.
Besides shapeshifting
gu spirits usually appearing as wugs, classical texts record other animal forms. The (ca. 350 CE) Soushenji "In Search of the Supernatural" (tr. Groot 1910 5:846-847) says,
This ranghe 蘘荷 "myoga
ginger" is a renowned antidote to gu poisoning, see below.
The Shanhaijing (南山經, tr. Birrell 2000:4) says the meat of a mythical creature on Mount Greenmound prevents miasmic gu poisoning, "There is an animal on this mountain that looks like a fox, but has nine tails. It makes a noise like a baby. It can devour humans. Whoever eats it will not be affected by malign forces." The commentary of Guo Pu notes this creature's meat will make a person immune to the affects of supernatural qi.
A Tang Dynasty account of Nanyue people (tr. Schafer 1967:102) describes gu miasma:
dictionary (6/21) defines gu 蠱 as pests in kang 糠 "chaff", written with the phonetic loan character kang 康 "healthy". The (ca. 543 CE) Yupian
dictionary defines gu as "longstanding grain that transforms into flying insects".
Groot (1910 5:827) connects this gu "grain pest" meaning with 2.1 "internal parasites" and 2.7 "debauchery".
); enchant and injure; cast a harmful spell over".
Gu-sorcery allegedly resulted in a debilitating psychological condition, often involving hallucinations. The Zuozhuan (宣公8, tr. Legge 1872:302) records that in 601 BCE, Xu Ke 胥克 of Jin was discharged from office because he had gu, "an illness which unsettled his mind". The Qing Dynasty
philologist Yu Yue 俞樾 etymologically connects this meaning of gu 蠱 with gu 痼 "chronic, protracted (illness)". Guji 蠱疾 "insanity; derangement; condition caused by excessive sexual activities" is a comparable word.
The Hanshu provides details of wugu-sorcery scandals and dynastic rivalries in the court of Emperor Wu
(r. 141-87 BCE), which Schafer (1967:103) calls "notorious dramas of love and death".
This early Chinese history (tr. Loewe 1970:169) records that in 130 BCE, a daughter of Empress Chen Jiao
(who was unable to bear a son) was accused of practicing wugu and maigu 埋蠱 "bury a witchcraft charm [under a victim's path or dwelling]" (cf. voodoo doll). The "empress was dismissed from her position and a total of 300 persons who were involved in the case were executed"; specifically (tr. Groot 1910 5:828) "their heads were all exposed on stakes" (cf. 2.3). This history claims wu
巫 "shamans" from Yue conducted the gu magic, which Eberhard (1968:152) notes, "seems to have consisted, at least in part, of magic human figures buried under the road which the emperor, the intended victim, was supposed to take".
Accusations of practicing wugu-magic were central to the 91 BCE (Wugu zhi huo 巫蠱之禍) attempted coup against crown prince Liu Ju
by Jiang Chong 江充 and Su Wen 蘇文. The Hanshu (tr. Groot 1910 5:836) claims that, "no less than nine long months of bloody terrorism, ending in a tremendous slaughter, cost some tens of thousands their lives!"
Traditional Chinese law
strictly prohibited practicing gu-sorcery. For instance, during the reign of Tang Empress Wu Zetian
, Schafer (1967:103) says,
The Zuozhuan (莊公28, tr. Legge 1872:115) uses gu in a story that in the 7th century BCE, Ziyuan 子元, the chief minister of Chu
, "wished to seduce the widow" of his brother King Wen of Zhou
. The Mozi (非儒下, tr. Mei 1929:208) uses gu to criticize Confucius
, who "dresses elaborately and puts on adornments to mislead the people." The Erya (1B/49, cf. 2.5 above) defines gu 蠱, chan 諂 "doubt; flatter", and er 貳 "double-hearted; doubtful" as yi 疑 "doubt; suspect; fear; hesitate". Guo Pu
's commentary suggests this refers to gu meaning "deceive; seduce".
Many later accounts specify women as gu-magic practitioners. Eberhard (1968:149) explains,
dictionary, which defines gu as shi 事 "assignment; affair; event; thing; matter; trouble".
The Yijing Gu hexagram (see 2.9) "Line Variations" repeatedly refer to parental gu with the enigmatic phrases 幹父之蠱 "gan-father's gu" and 幹母之蠱 "gan-mother's gu". Wang Niansun
quotes an Yijing commentary that gu means shi, and proposes gu 蠱 is a phonetic loan character for gu 故 "reason; cause; event; incident". Commentarial tradition takes gan 幹 "trunk; framework; do; work" to mean chi 飭 "put in order", and Richard Wilhelm
(1967:75) translates "Setting right what has been spoiled by the father" and "Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother". Arthur Waley
(1933:132) follows an ancient interpretation that gan 幹 is a variant Chinese character
for gan 干 "stem; Celestial stem; day of the (10-day) week; involve", translating "stem-father's maggots" and "stem-mother's maggots", explaining
Gu 蠱 names the Yì-Jīng
Hexagram
18, which is translated as "Destruction" (Z.D. Sung 1935), "Work on What Has Been Spoiled [Decay]" (Richard Wilhelm 1967), "Decay" (John Blofeld
1965), "Degeneration" (Thomas Cleary
1986), "Poison, Destruction" (Wu Jing-Nuan 1991), and "Ills to Be Cured" (Richard John Lynn 1994). Wilhelm (1967:75) explains translating "decay" for 蠱.
"The Judgment" (tr. Wilhelm 1967:75): "WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED Has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days." "The Image" (tr. Wilhelm 1967:76) reads: "The wind blows low on the mountain: The image of DECAY. Thus the superior man stirs up the people, And strengthens their spirit."
In the Zuozhuan (僖公15, tr. Legge 1872:167), divination of this Gu hexagram foretells Qin conquering Jin, "A lucky response; cross the Ho; the prince's chariots are defeated."
and Wang Ling
(1956:136), "the poison was prepared by placing many toxic insects in a closed vessel and allowing them to remain there until one had eaten all the rest – the toxin was then extracted from the survivor." They note, "It is strange to think that this same method has been successfully employed in our own times for the isolation of strains of soil bacteria capable of attacking the tuberculosis bacillus".
Feng and Shryock (1935:1) describe contemporary practices of gu.
Eberhard (1968:152) summarizes gu practices.
The 4th-century Soushenji (cf. 2.4, tr. Feng and Shryock 1935:7) records that gu breeding was a profitable but dangerous profession in the Honan region.
Feng and Shryock (1935:11-12) describe how 20th-century Zhuang women in Guangxi
elaborately produced gu during the Duanwu Festival (see jincan above).
The Zhou houbei jifang 肘後備急方 (tr. Groot 1910 5:862), which is attributed to Ge Hong
, describes gu diagnosis and cure with ranghe:
Many gu-poison antidotes are homeopathic, in Western terms. The 8th-century pharmacologist Chen Cangqi (tr. Groot 1910 5:866) explains using venomous creatures both to produce and cure gu-poison.
Needham and Wang (1956:136) say prescribing gu poison as a cure or preventive suggests "that someone had stumbled on an immunisation process", and suggest scorpion-venom and centipede-venom as possible toxins.
Chen (tr. Schafer 1967:102, cf. Groot 1910 5:847) further describes catching and preparing medicine from the shapeshifting gu creature that,
Besides such homeopathic remedies, Schafer (1967:103) says one could,
Chinese folklore claims the definitive cure for gu-magic is passing it on to a greedy person. Eberhard (1968:153) says,
From descriptions of gu poisoning such involving "swollen abdomen, emaciation, and the presence of worms in the body orifices of the dead or living", Unschuld (1985:48) reasons, "Such symptoms allow a great number of possible explanations and interpretations". He suggests attitudes toward gu were based upon fear of others, envy, and greed. "But the concept of ku is unknown outside of China. Instead, one finds what may be its conceptual equivalent, the "evil eye", present in all "envy societies"."
Venom
Venom is the general term referring to any variety of toxins used by certain types of animals that inject it into their victims by the means of a bite or a sting...
-based poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
associated with cultures of south China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, particularly Nanyue
Nanyue
Nanyue was an ancient kingdom that consisted of parts of the modern Chinese provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, and Yunnan and northern Vietnam. Nanyue was established in 204 BC at the final collapse of the Qin Dynasty by Zhao Tuo, who was the military commander of Nanhai Commandery at the time, and...
. The traditional preparation of gu poison involved sealing several venomous creatures (e.g., centipede
Centipede
Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...
, snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
, scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...
) into a closed utensil, where they devoured one another and allegedly concentrated their toxins into a single survivor. Gu was used in black magic
Black magic
Black magic is the type of magic that draws on assumed malevolent powers or is used with the intention to kill, steal, injure, cause misfortune or destruction, or for personal gain without regard to harmful consequences. As a term, "black magic" is normally used by those that do not approve of its...
practices such as manipulating sexual partners, creating malignant diseases, and causing death. According to Chinese folklore
Chinese folklore
Chinese folklore includes songs, dances, puppetry, and tales. It often tells stories of human nature, historical or legendary events, love, and the supernatural, or stories explaining natural phenomena and distinctive landmarks.-Folktales:...
, a gu spirit could transform into various animals, typically a worm, caterpillar, snake, frog, dog, or pig.
Names
Circa 14th-century BCE Shang DynastyShang Dynasty
The Shang Dynasty or Yin Dynasty was, according to traditional sources, the second Chinese dynasty, after the Xia. They ruled in the northeastern regions of the area known as "China proper" in the Yellow River valley...
oracle inscriptions recorded the name gu, while 7th-century CE Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
texts first used jincan "gold silkworm".
Gu
The term gu 蠱, says Loewe (1990:191), "can be traced from the oracle bones until modern times, and has acquired a large number of meanings or connotations". Before discussing gu, it is necessary to introduce the related word chong 蟲 "wug".Chong 虫 or 蟲 (originally a "snake; worm" pictogram
Pictogram
A pictograph, also called pictogram or pictogramme is an ideogram that conveys its meaning through its pictorial resemblance to a physical object. Pictographs are often used in writing and graphic systems in which the characters are to considerable extent pictorial in appearance.Pictography is a...
) "insect; bug; pest; worm; spider; amphibian; reptile; dragon; etc." denotes a Chinese folk taxonomy
Folk taxonomy
A folk taxonomy is a vernacular naming system, and can be contrasted with scientific taxonomy. Folk biological classification is the way peoples describe and organize their natural surroundings/the world around them, typically making generous use of form taxa like "shrubs", "bugs", "ducks",...
lacking an adequate English translation
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
equivalent. Carr (1983:7) proposes translating chong as "wug" – Brown's (1979) portmanteau word
Portmanteau word
A portmanteau or portmanteau word is a blend of two words or morphemes into one new word. A portmanteau word typically combines both sounds and meanings, as in smog, coined by blending smoke and fog. More generally, it may refer to any term or phrase that combines two or more meanings...
(from worm + bug) bridging the lexical gap
Lexical gap
A lexical gap or lacuna is an absence of a word in a particular language. Types of lexical gaps include untranslatability and missing inflections.-Untranslatability:...
for the linguistically widespread "class of miscellaneous animals including insects, spiders, and small reptiles and amphibians". Contrast the Wug test
Wug test
The wug test is an experiment in linguistics, created by Jean Berko Gleason in 1958. It was designed as a way to investigate the acquisition of the plural and other inflectional morphemes in English-speaking children....
for investigating language acquisition
Language acquisition
Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive, produce and use words to understand and communicate. This capacity involves the picking up of diverse capacities including syntax, phonetics, and an extensive vocabulary. This language might be vocal as with...
of plurals in English morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
. Note that "wug" will translate chong below.
Chinese character
Chinese characters are logograms used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese , less frequently Korean , formerly Vietnamese , or other languages...
蠱 and the Simplified 蛊 for gu "demonic poison" are "wugs inside in a container" ideogram
Ideogram
An ideogram or ideograph is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by familiarity with prior convention; others convey their meaning through pictorial resemblance to a physical object, and thus may also be referred to as pictograms.Examples of...
s that combine chong 蟲 or 虫 "wug" and min 皿 "jar; cup; dish; utensil". Early written forms of gu 蠱 range from (ca. 14th-11th centuries BCE) Oracle bone script
Oracle bone script
Oracle bone script refers to incised ancient Chinese characters found on oracle bones, which are animal bones or turtle shells used in divination in Bronze Age China...
to (ca. 3rd century BCE) Seal script
Seal script
Seal script is an ancient style of Chinese calligraphy. It evolved organically out of the Zhōu dynasty script , arising in the Warring State of Qin...
characters. The Oracle characters had two or one 虫 "wug" elements inside a container, while the Seal characters had three. Shima's (1958:386) concordance of oracle bone
Oracle bone
Oracle bones are pieces of bone normally from ox scapula or turtle plastron which were used for divination chiefly during the late Shang Dynasty. The bones were first inscribed with divination in oracle bone script by using a bronze pin, and then heated until crack lines appeared in which the...
inscriptions lists 23 occurrences of gu written with two wugs and 4 with one; many contexts are divinations about sickness. Marshall (2001:129) concludes, "The oracle-bone character of gu is used to refer to the evil power of the ancestors to cause illness in the living."
Jincan
Jincan 金蠶 "gold silkworm/caterpillar" is a gu synonymSynonym
Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...
first recorded in the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
. Li Xian's (7th century) commentary to the Hou Han Shu uses jincan as the name of a funerary decoration cast from gold, and the (9th century) author Su E 蘇鶚 describes it as a legendary golden-color caterpillar from Kashmir.
Eberhard (1968:149-150, cf. 153) connects gu, jincan, and other love charms with the Duanwu Festival that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calendar
Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. It is not exclusive to China, but followed by many other Asian cultures as well...
, which is "the theoretical apogee of summer heat" (Groot 1910 5:851).
Among the Miao on the fifth of the fifth month poisonous animals were put into a pot and allowed to devour each other, and they were called 'gold-silkworms'. The more people were killed by the ku, the richer the kus owner became. In our time the normal term for ku has been 'gold-silkworm'. These animals can make gold. It was typical for the gold-silkworm that people continued to feed this animal in the pot, that humans had to be sacrificed to it, that the animal kept the house clean and worked for its master like a brownie, but that it caused harm to its master if he did not provide proper sacrifices.
"For centuries, the Miao, particularly Miao women", writes Schein (2000:50-51), "have been feared for their mastery of the so-called gu poison, which is said to inflict death from a distance with excruciating slowness."
Groot (1910 5:854) quotes a Song Dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
description.
a gold caterpillar is a caterpillar with a gold colour, which is fed with silk from Shuh (Szĕ-ch‘wen). Its ordure, put in food or drink, poisons those who take it, causing certain death. It can draw towards a man the possessions of such victims, and thus make him enormously rich. It is extremely difficult to get rid of it, for even water, fire, weapons or swords can do it no harm. Usually the owner for this purpose puts some gold or silver into a basket, places the caterpillar also therein, and throws the basket away in a corner of the street, where someone may pick it up and take it with him. He is then said to have given his gold caterpillar in marriage.
The Bencao Gangmu (tr. Groot 1910 5:850-851) quotes Cai Dao 蔡絛's (12th century) Tieweishan congtan 鐵圍山叢談 that "gold caterpillars first existed" in the Shu
Shu (state)
The State of Shu was an ancient state in what is now Sichuan, China. It was conquered by Qin in 316 BC. Shu was based on the Chengdu Plain, in the western Sichuan basin with some extension northeast to the upper Han River valley. To the east was the Ba tribal confederation. Further east down the...
region (present-day Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...
), and "only in recent times did they find their way into" Hubei
Hubei
' Hupeh) is a province in Central China. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Lake Dongting...
, Hunan
Hunan
' is a province of South-Central China, located to the south of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and south of Lake Dongting...
, Fujian
Fujian
' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...
, Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, and Guanxi
Guanxi
Guanxi describes the basic dynamic in personalized networks of influence, and is a central idea in Chinese society. In Western media, the pinyin romanization of this Chinese word is becoming more widely used instead of the two common translations—"connections" and "relationships"—as neither of...
. It also quotes (tr. Groot 1910 5:853-854) the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
pharmacologist Chen Cangqi (713-741 CE) that:
ashes of old flowered silk are a cure for poison of ku of insects or reptiles which eat such silk. His commentator adds, that those insects are coiled up like a finger-ring, and eat old red silk and flowered silk, just as caterpillars eat leaves; hence, considered in the light of the present day, those insects are gold caterpillars.
Gu Meanings
The Hanyu Da ZidianHanyu Da Zidian
The Hanyu Da Zidian is one of the best available reference works on Chinese characters. A group of more than 400 editors and lexicographers began compilation in 1979, and it was published in eight volumes from 1986 to 1989. A separate volume of essays documents the lexicographical complexities...
dictionary defines 9 gu 蠱 meanings, plus the rare reading ye 蠱 "bewitchingly pretty; seductive; coquettish" [妖艳].
- (1) Poisoning from an abdominal wug [腹內中虫食之毒]
- (2) In ancient books, a type of artificially cultured poisonous wug [古籍中一种人工培养的毒虫]
- (3) Ghost of a person [convicted of gu-magic] whose decapitated head was impaled on a stake [臬磔死之鬼]
- (4) Evil heat and noxious qiQiIn traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
that harms humans [伤害人的热毒恶气] - (5) Wug pest that eats grain. [蛀虫]
- (6) Sorcery that harms humans [害人的邪术]
- (7) Seduce; tempt; confuse; mislead [蛊惑, 诱惑, 迷惑]
- (8) Affair; assignment [事]
- (9) One of the 64 hexagrams. It is formed from [the trigrams] Gen 艮 [☶ Mountain]) over Xun 巽 [☴ Wind) [六十四卦之一. 卦形为…艮上巽下]
The (early 4th century BCE) Zuozhuan commentary to the (ca. 6th-5th centuries BCE) Chunqiu history provides an ancient example of 蠱's polysemy
Polysemy
Polysemy is the capacity for a sign or signs to have multiple meanings , i.e., a large semantic field.Charles Fillmore and Beryl Atkins’ definition stipulates three elements: the various senses of a polysemous word have a central origin, the links between these senses form a network, and ...
. It records four gu meanings – 2.5 "grain which (molders and) flies away", 2.6 "insanity", 2.7 "delusion and disorder", and 2.9 "same [hexagram] name" – in a 541 BCE story (昭公1, tr. Legge 1872:580-581) about a physician named He 和"Harmony" from Qin
Qin (state)
The State of Qin was a Chinese feudal state that existed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods of Chinese history...
explaining gu to the ruler of Jin.
The marquis of [Jin] asked the help of a physician from [Qin], and the earl sent one [He] to see him, who said, "The disease cannot be cured, according to the saying that when women are approached, the chamber disease becomes like insanity. It is not caused by Spirits nor by food; it is that delusion which has destroyed the mind. Your good minister will [also] die; it is not the will of Heaven to preserve him." The marquis said, "May women (then) not be approached?" The physician replied, "Intercourse with them must be regulated." … [Zhao Meng] (further) asked what he meant by ‘insanity’; and (the physician) replied, “I mean that which is produced by the delusion and disorder of excessive sensual indulgence. Look at the character; – it is formed by the characters for a vessel and for insects (蠱 = 皿 and 蟲). It is also used of grain which (molders and) flies away. In the [Yijing], (the symbols of) a woman deluding a young man, (of) wind throwing down (the trees of) a mountain, go by the same name (蠱; ☶ under ☴): all these point to the same signification." [Zhao Meng] pronounced him a good physician, gave him large gifts, and sent him back to [Qin].
Abdominal wug poisoning
The "poisoning from abdominal wugs" or "abdominal parasites" meaning 2.1 first appears in the (121 CE) Shuowen JieziShuowen Jiezi
The Shuōwén Jiězì was an early 2nd century CE Chinese dictionary from the Han Dynasty. Although not the first comprehensive Chinese character dictionary , it was still the first to analyze the structure of the characters and to give the rationale behind them , as well as the first to use the...
dictionary, cf. 2.3 below. It defines gu 蠱 as 腹中蟲也, literally "stomach middle wug", (tr. Loewe 1970:192) "insects within the stomach". However, Duan Yucai
Duan Yucai
Duan Yucai , courtesy name Ruoying was a Chinese philologist of the Qing Dynasty. He made great contributions to the study of Historical Chinese phonology, and is known for his annotated edition of Shuowen Jiezi.-Biography:...
's (1815 CE) commentary construes this definition as "afflicted by abdominal wugs"; and explains that instead of the usual readings zhōng 中 "middle; center; interior" and chóng 蟲 "wug", both terms should be read in entering tone
Entering tone
A checked tone, commonly known by its Chinese calque entering tone , is one of four syllable types in the phonology in Middle Chinese which are commonly translated as tone. However, it is not a tone in the phonetic sense, but rather describes a syllable that ends in a stop consonant, such as p, t,...
, namely zhòng 中 "hit (a target); be hit by" and zhòng 蟲 "wug bites".
Cultivated poisonous wug
The second gu meaning "anciently recorded type of artificially cultured poisonous wug" names the survivor of several venomous creatures enclosed in a container, and transformed into a type of demon or spirit.The Zhouli ritual text (秋官司寇, tr. Groot 1910 5:826) describes a Shushi 庶氏 official who, "was charged with the duty of exterminating poisonous ku, attacking this with spells and thus exorcising it, as also with the duty of attacking it with efficacious herbs; all persons able to fight ku he was to employ according to their capacities." Zheng Xuan
Zheng Xuan
Zheng Xuan , courtesy name Kangcheng , was an influential Chinese commentator and Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty. He was born in modern Weifang, Shandong, and was a student of Ma Rong.-See also:*Three Kingdoms...
's commentary explains dugu 毒蠱 "poisonous gu" as "wugs that cause sickness in people".
Dismembered sorcerer's ghost
Gu meaning 2.3 "ghost of a person whose decapitated head was impaled on a stake" refers to the severe Han DynastyHan 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...
"dismemberment
Dismemberment
Dismemberment is the act of cutting, tearing, pulling, wrenching or otherwise removing, the limbs of a living thing. It may be practiced upon human beings as a form of capital punishment, as a result of a traumatic accident, or in connection with murder, suicide, or cannibalism...
(as tortuous capital punishment)" for criminals convicted of practicing gu-sorcery (see 2.6). Groot (1910 5:840) "Plate VI, Punishment of Cutting Asunder" provides a gruesome illustration. The Zhouli commentary of Zheng Xuan (cf. 2.2, tr. Loewe 1970:195) notes, "Those who dare to poison people with ku or teach others to do it will be publicly executed".
Eberhard (1968:152) says gu, "was also the soul of a dead person whose head had been pitted on a pole. This, too, fits later reports, in so far as the souls of ku victims often are mentioned as servants of the master of ku, if not ku itself served the master."
The Shuowen Jiezi (cf. 2.1 above, tr. Loewe 1970:195) also defines gu as "the spirits of convicted criminals whose heads had been exposed on stakes." This specialized torture term niejie 臬磔 combines nie "target" (which pictures a person's 自 "nose" on a 木 "tree; wooden stand") and jie 磔 "dismemberment". Compare the character for xian 縣 "county; district" that originated as a "place where dismembered criminals were publicly displayed" pictograph of an upside-down 首 "head" hanging on a 系 "rope" tied to a 木 "tree".
Groot (1910 5:828) suggests this meaning of gu, "seems to reveal to us a belief that such a soul, roaming restlessly about because of its corpse being mutilated, must be avenging itself on the living by settling in their intestines in the shape of the same maggots and grubs which gnaw away its decaying head."
Unschuld (1985:49-50) provides historical perspective.
As the legal measures of individual dynasties demonstrate, administrative officials viewed ku as a reality, as late as the nineteenth century. The primary host was considered a criminal; a person guilty of the despicable act of preparing and administering ku poison was executed, occasionally with his entire family, in a gruesome manner. In addition to the obvious desire to punish severely criminal practices that could result in the death of the victim, it is possible that Confucian distaste for the accumulation of material goods, and above all for the resulting social mobility, contributed to this attitude. Indeed, the penalties of the use of ku poison appear to have been more severe than those for other forms of murder.
Heat miasma
The fourth meaning of "evil heat and noxious qiQi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...
that harms humans" refers to allegedly sickness-causing emanations of tropical miasma
Miasma theory of disease
The miasma theory held that diseases such as cholera, chlamydia or the Black Death were caused by a miasma , a noxious form of "bad air"....
. "There was also an ancient belief that ku diseases were induced by some sort of noxious mist or exhalation", writes Schafer (1967:102), "just as it was also believed that certain airs and winds could generate worms".
The Shiji (秦本紀, tr. Groot 1910 5:827) records that in 675 BCE, Duke De 德公 of Qin "suppressed ku at the commencement of the hottest summer-period by means of dogs. According to commentators, these animals were for the purpose butchered and affixed to the four gates of the capital." The Tang Dynasty commentary of Zhang Shoujie 張守節 explains gu as "hot, poisonous, evil, noxious qi that harms people". Displaying gu dogs at city gates reflects meaning 2.3 above.
Besides shapeshifting
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
gu spirits usually appearing as wugs, classical texts record other animal forms. The (ca. 350 CE) Soushenji "In Search of the Supernatural" (tr. Groot 1910 5:846-847) says,
In P‘o-yang (in the north of the present Kiangsi pr.) one Chao Shen kept canine ku. Once, when he was called on by Ch‘en Ch‘en, six or seven big yellow dogs rushed out at this man, all at once barking at him. And when my paternal uncle, on coming home, had a meal with Chao Sheu’s wife, he spit blood, and was saved from death in the nick of time by a drink prepared from minced stalks of an orange-tree. Ku contains spectral beings or spectres, which change their spectral shapes into those of beings of various kinds, such as dogs or swine, insects or snakes, their victims thus never being able to know what are their real forms. When they are put into operation against people, those whom they hit or touch all perish. Tsiang Shi, the husband of my wife’s sister, had a hired work-man in employ, who fell sick and passed blood. The physician opined that he was stricken by ku, and secretly, without informing him of it, strewed some jang-ho root under his sleeping-mat. The patient then madly exclaimed: "The ku which devours me is ceasing to spread"; and then he cried: "It vanishes little by little." The present generations often make use of jang-ho root to conquer ku, and now and then it has a good effect. Some think it is ‘the efficacious herb’, mentioned in the Cheu li
This ranghe 蘘荷 "myoga
Myoga
Myōga or myoga ginger is an herbaceous, deciduous, perennial native to Japan and southern part of Korea that is grown for its edible flower buds and flavorful shoots. Flower buds are finely shredded and used in Japanese cuisine as a garnish for miso soup, sunomono and dishes such as roasted...
ginger" is a renowned antidote to gu poisoning, see below.
The Shanhaijing (南山經, tr. Birrell 2000:4) says the meat of a mythical creature on Mount Greenmound prevents miasmic gu poisoning, "There is an animal on this mountain that looks like a fox, but has nine tails. It makes a noise like a baby. It can devour humans. Whoever eats it will not be affected by malign forces." The commentary of Guo Pu notes this creature's meat will make a person immune to the affects of supernatural qi.
A Tang Dynasty account of Nanyue people (tr. Schafer 1967:102) describes gu miasma:
The majority are diseased, and ku forms in their bloated bellies. There is a vulgar tradition of making ku from a concentration of the hundred kinds of crawling creatures, for the purpose of poisoning men. But probably it is the poisonous crawlers of that hot and humid land which produce it – not just the cruel and baleful nature of the householders beyond the mountain passes.
Wug pest
The "wug pest that eats grain" or "grain that transforms into wugs" meaning 2.5 is seen above in the Zuozhuan explanation of gu as "grain which (molders and) flies away". The (ca. 3rd century BCE) EryaErya
The Erya is the oldest extant Chinese dictionary or Chinese encyclopedia. Bernhard Karlgren concluded that "the major part of its glosses must reasonably date from" the 3rd century BC....
dictionary (6/21) defines gu 蠱 as pests in kang 糠 "chaff", written with the phonetic loan character kang 康 "healthy". The (ca. 543 CE) Yupian
Yupian
The Yupian is a circa 543 CE Chinese dictionary edited by Gu Yewang during the Liang Dynasty. It arranges 12,158 character entries under 542 radicals, which differ somewhat from the original 540 in the Shuowen Jiezi...
dictionary defines gu as "longstanding grain that transforms into flying insects".
Groot (1910 5:827) connects this gu "grain pest" meaning with 2.1 "internal parasites" and 2.7 "debauchery".
Thus the term ku also included the use of philtre-maggots by women desirous of exciting the lusts of men and attracting them into debauchery. And, evidently, ku was also used to destroy crops or food-stores, or, as the learned physician expressed it, to make the corn fly away, perhaps in the form of winged insects born therein; indeed, the character for ku is regularly used in literature to denote devastating grubs and insects, including internal parasites of the human body, which exercise a destructive influence like poison.
Sorcery
Gu meaning 2.6 "sorcery that harms humans" or "cast damaging spells" is exemplified in the Modern Standard Chinese words wugu 巫蠱 (with "shaman") "sorcery; art of casting spells" and gudu 蠱毒 (with "poison") "a venomous poison (used in Traditional Chinese medicineTraditional 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...
); enchant and injure; cast a harmful spell over".
Gu-sorcery allegedly resulted in a debilitating psychological condition, often involving hallucinations. The Zuozhuan (宣公8, tr. Legge 1872:302) records that in 601 BCE, Xu Ke 胥克 of Jin was discharged from office because he had gu, "an illness which unsettled his mind". The Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
philologist Yu Yue 俞樾 etymologically connects this meaning of gu 蠱 with gu 痼 "chronic, protracted (illness)". Guji 蠱疾 "insanity; derangement; condition caused by excessive sexual activities" is a comparable word.
The Hanshu provides details of wugu-sorcery scandals and dynastic rivalries in the court of Emperor Wu
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), which Schafer (1967:103) calls "notorious dramas of love and death".
This early Chinese history (tr. Loewe 1970:169) records that in 130 BCE, a daughter of Empress Chen Jiao
Empress Chen Jiao
Empress Chen Jiao was an empress during Han Dynasty. She was the first wife of Emperor Wu of Han, but was deposed in 130 BC. Her father was Chen Wu , the Marquess of Tangyi. Her mother was Emperor Wu's aunt Princess Liu Piao , making her and her husband cousins...
(who was unable to bear a son) was accused of practicing wugu and maigu 埋蠱 "bury a witchcraft charm [under a victim's path or dwelling]" (cf. voodoo doll). The "empress was dismissed from her position and a total of 300 persons who were involved in the case were executed"; specifically (tr. Groot 1910 5:828) "their heads were all exposed on stakes" (cf. 2.3). This history claims wu
Wu (shaman)
Wu are spirit mediums who have practiced divination, prayer, sacrifice, rainmaking, and healing in Chinese traditions dating back over 3,000 years.-The word wu:...
巫 "shamans" from Yue conducted the gu magic, which Eberhard (1968:152) notes, "seems to have consisted, at least in part, of magic human figures buried under the road which the emperor, the intended victim, was supposed to take".
Accusations of practicing wugu-magic were central to the 91 BCE (Wugu zhi huo 巫蠱之禍) attempted coup against crown prince Liu Ju
Liu Ju
Liu Ju , formally Crown Prince Li was crown prince during the reign of his father, Emperor Wu of Han, during China's Han Dynasty...
by Jiang Chong 江充 and Su Wen 蘇文. The Hanshu (tr. Groot 1910 5:836) claims that, "no less than nine long months of bloody terrorism, ending in a tremendous slaughter, cost some tens of thousands their lives!"
Traditional Chinese law
Traditional Chinese law
Traditional Chinese law refers to the laws, regulations and rules used in China up to 1911, when the last imperial dynasty fell. It has undergone continuous development since at least the 11th century BC...
strictly prohibited practicing gu-sorcery. For instance, during the reign of Tang Empress Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian , personal name Wu Zhao , often referred to as Tian Hou during the Tang Dynasty and Empress Consort Wu in later times, was the only woman in the history of China to assume the title of Empress Regnant...
, Schafer (1967:103) says,
the possession of ku poison, like the casting of horoscopes, was cause for official suspicion and action: At that time many tyrannical office holders would orders robbers to bury ku or to leave prophecies in a man's household by night. Then, after the passage of a month, they would secretly confiscate it.
Seduce
This gu meaning 2.7 of "seduce; bewitch; attract; confuse; mislead; bewilder" is evident in the Standard Chinese words yaogu 妖蠱 "bewitch by seductive charms", gumei 蠱媚 "bewitch/charm by sensual appeal", and guhuo 蠱惑 "confuse by magic; enchant; seduce into wrongdoing". "Ku-poisoning was also associated with demoniac sexual appetite – an idea traceable back to Chou times", says Schafer (1967:103), "This notion evidently had its origins in stories of ambiguous love potions prepared by the aboriginal women of the south.The Zuozhuan (莊公28, tr. Legge 1872:115) uses gu in a story that in the 7th century BCE, Ziyuan 子元, the chief minister of Chu
Chu (state)
The State of Chu was a Zhou Dynasty vassal state in present-day central and southern China during the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States Period . Its ruling house had the surname Nai , and clan name Yan , later evolved to surname Mi , and clan name Xiong...
, "wished to seduce the widow" of his brother King Wen of Zhou
King Wen of Zhou
King Wen of Zhou family name : Ji , Clan name : Zhou Personal name: Chang, known as Zhou Chang or Xibo Chang was the founder of the Zhou Dynasty and the first epic hero of Chinese history....
. The Mozi (非儒下, tr. Mei 1929:208) uses gu to criticize Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
, who "dresses elaborately and puts on adornments to mislead the people." The Erya (1B/49, cf. 2.5 above) defines gu 蠱, chan 諂 "doubt; flatter", and er 貳 "double-hearted; doubtful" as yi 疑 "doubt; suspect; fear; hesitate". Guo Pu
Guo Pu
Guo 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...
's commentary suggests this refers to gu meaning "deceive; seduce".
Many later accounts specify women as gu-magic practitioners. Eberhard (1968:149) explains,
We know that among many aborigines of the south women know how to prepare love charms which were effective even at a distance. In these reports it was almost invariably stated that the love charm had a fatal effect if the man, to whom the charm was directed, did not return to the woman at a specified time.
Affair
The least-attested gu 蠱 meaning 2.8 of "affair; event" first appears in the (3rd century CE) GuangyaGuangya
The Guangya was an early 3rd century CE Chinese dictionary, edited by Zhang Yi during the Three Kingdoms period. It was later called the Boya owing to naming taboo on Yang Guang , which was the birth name of Emperor Yang of Sui.Zhang Yi wrote the Guangya as a supplement to the centuries older...
dictionary, which defines gu as shi 事 "assignment; affair; event; thing; matter; trouble".
The Yijing Gu hexagram (see 2.9) "Line Variations" repeatedly refer to parental gu with the enigmatic phrases 幹父之蠱 "gan-father's gu" and 幹母之蠱 "gan-mother's gu". Wang Niansun
Wang Niansun
Wang Niansun , courtesy name: Huaizu was a Chinese scholar of the Qing Dynasty.-Biography:A native of Gaoyou, Jiangsu, he worked as a government official specializing in channelization before retiring to devote himself to his studies...
quotes an Yijing commentary that gu means shi, and proposes gu 蠱 is a phonetic loan character for gu 故 "reason; cause; event; incident". Commentarial tradition takes gan 幹 "trunk; framework; do; work" to mean chi 飭 "put in order", and Richard Wilhelm
Richard Wilhelm
Richard Wilhelm was a German sinologist, as well as theologian and missionary. He is best remembered for his translations of philosophical works from Chinese into German that in turn have been translated into other major languages of the world, including English...
(1967:75) translates "Setting right what has been spoiled by the father" and "Setting right what has been spoiled by the mother". Arthur Waley
Arthur Waley
Arthur David Waley CH, CBE was an English orientalist and sinologist.-Life:Waley was born in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, as Arthur David Schloss, son of the economist David Frederick Schloss...
(1933:132) follows an ancient interpretation that gan 幹 is a variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese character
Variant Chinese characters are Chinese characters that are homophones and synonyms. Almost all variants are allographs in most circumstances, such as casual handwriting...
for gan 干 "stem; Celestial stem; day of the (10-day) week; involve", translating "stem-father's maggots" and "stem-mother's maggots", explaining
it is surely obvious that the maggots referred to are those which appeared in the flesh of animals sacrificed to the spirits of dead parents, who after their death were, for reasons of taboo, only known by the name of the day upon which they were born, being merely a fuller way of writing 'stem', 'day of the week'.
Hexagram 18
I Ching
The I Ching or "Yì Jīng" , also known as the Classic of Changes, Book of Changes and Zhouyi, is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts...
Hexagram
Hexagram (I Ching)
The I Ching book consists of 64 hexagrams.A hexagram is a figure composed of six stacked horizontal lines , where each line is either Yang , or Yin . The hexagram lines are traditionally counted from the bottom up, so the lowest line is considered line 1 while the top line is line 6...
18, which is translated as "Destruction" (Z.D. Sung 1935), "Work on What Has Been Spoiled [Decay]" (Richard Wilhelm 1967), "Decay" (John Blofeld
John Blofeld
John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld was a British writer on Asian thought and religion, especially Taoism and Chinese Buddhism.-Early life:Blofeld was born in London in 1913...
1965), "Degeneration" (Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary is a prolific author and translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim classics, and of the Chinese Art of War tradition of strategy and statecraft. He lives in Oakland, California in the United States.-Life and work:...
1986), "Poison, Destruction" (Wu Jing-Nuan 1991), and "Ills to Be Cured" (Richard John Lynn 1994). Wilhelm (1967:75) explains translating "decay" for 蠱.
The Chinese character ku represents a bowl in whose contents worms are breeding. This means decay. It is come about because the gentle indifference in the lower trigram has come together with the rigid inertia of the upper, and the result is stagnation. Since this implies guilt, the conditions embody a demand for removal of the cause. Hence the meaning of the hexagram is not simply "what has been spoiled" but "work on what has been spoiled."
"The Judgment" (tr. Wilhelm 1967:75): "WORK ON WHAT HAS BEEN SPOILED Has supreme success. It furthers one to cross the great water. Before the starting point, three days. After the starting point, three days." "The Image" (tr. Wilhelm 1967:76) reads: "The wind blows low on the mountain: The image of DECAY. Thus the superior man stirs up the people, And strengthens their spirit."
In the Zuozhuan (僖公15, tr. Legge 1872:167), divination of this Gu hexagram foretells Qin conquering Jin, "A lucky response; cross the Ho; the prince's chariots are defeated."
Gu techniques
According to ancient gu traditions, explain Joseph NeedhamJoseph 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...
and Wang Ling
Wang Ling (historian)
Wang Ling was a Chinese and Australian historian and educator known for his collaboration with Joseph Needham on the history of science and technology in China.-Biography:...
(1956:136), "the poison was prepared by placing many toxic insects in a closed vessel and allowing them to remain there until one had eaten all the rest – the toxin was then extracted from the survivor." They note, "It is strange to think that this same method has been successfully employed in our own times for the isolation of strains of soil bacteria capable of attacking the tuberculosis bacillus".
Feng and Shryock (1935:1) describe contemporary practices of gu.
At present, ku is used primarily as a means of acquiring wealth; secondarily as a means of revenge. The method is to place poisonous snakes and insects together in a vessel until there is but one survivor, which is called the ku. The poison secured from this ku is administered to the victim, who becomes sick and dies. The ideas associated with ku vary, but the ku is generally regarded as a spirit, which secures the wealth of the victim for the sorcerer.
Eberhard (1968:152) summarizes gu practices.
The essence of ku, then, was the magic charm that could be prepared out of the surviving animal in the pot. It could be used as a love charm with the object of forcing the loved male to come back to the woman. The ku could be used also as an evil magic with the object of obtaining subservient spirits. This was done by feeding it to unrelated persons who would either spit blood or whose stomachs would swell because of the food they had taken would become alive in their insides, and who would die as a result; similar to the gold-silkworms, their souls had to be servants of the owner of the ku.
The 4th-century Soushenji (cf. 2.4, tr. Feng and Shryock 1935:7) records that gu breeding was a profitable but dangerous profession in the Honan region.
In the province of Yung-yang, there was a family by the name of Liao. For several generations they manufactured ku, becoming rich from it. Later one of the family married, but they kept the secret from the bride. On one occasion, everyone went out except the bride, who was left in charge of the house. Suddenly she noticed a large cauldron in the house, and on opening it, perceived a big snake inside. She poured boiling water into the cauldron and killed the snake. When the rest of the family returned she told them what she had done, to their great alarm. Not long after, the entire family died of the plague.
Feng and Shryock (1935:11-12) describe how 20th-century Zhuang women in Guangxi
Guangxi
Guangxi, formerly romanized Kwangsi, is a province of southern China along its border with Vietnam. In 1958, it became the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China, a region with special privileges created specifically for the Zhuang people.Guangxi's location, in...
elaborately produced gu during the Duanwu Festival (see jincan above).
Ku poison is not found generally among the people (i.e., the Chinese), but is used by the T'ung women. It is said that on the fifth day of the fifth month, they go to a mountain stream and spread new clothes and headgear on the ground, with a bowl of water beside them. The women dance and sing naked, inviting a visit from the King of Medicine (a tutelary spirit). They wait until snakes, lizards, and poisonous insects come to bathe in the bowl. They pour the water out in a shadowy, dark place. Then they gather the fungus which grows there, which they make into a paste. They put this into goose-feather tubes and hide them in their hair. The heat of their bodies causes worms to generate, which resemble newly-hatched silk-worms. Thus ku is produced. It is often concealed in a warm, dark place in the kitchen. The newly made ku is not yet poisonous. It is used as a love potion, administered in food and drink and called "love-medicine." Gradually the ku becomes poisonous. As the poison develops, the woman's body itches until she has poisoned someone. If there is no other opportunity, she will poison even her husband or her sons. But she possesses antidotes. It is believed that those who produce ku themselves become ku after death. The ghosts of those who have died from the poison become their servants.
Gu remedies
Groot (1910 5:861-869) and Eberhard (1968:152-3) detail numerous Chinese antidotes and cures for gu poison-magic. For instance (see 2.4), the Shanhaijing claimed eating a legendary creature's meat would prevent gu and the Soushenji prescribed ranghe 蘘荷 "myoga ginger". Unschuld (1985:47) saysPrescription literature was filled with antidotes. All known Chinese conceptual systems of healing dealt with the ku phenomenon and developed therapeutic strategies that were in accord with their basic principles. The Buddhists recommended prayers and conjurations, thus utilizing the same methods as practitioners of demonic medicine. In pharmaceutical literature, drugs of a plant, animal, or mineral origin were described as effective against ku poisoning. Adherents of homeopathic magic recommended the taking of centipedes, since it was known that centipedes consume worms.
The Zhou houbei jifang 肘後備急方 (tr. Groot 1910 5:862), which is attributed to Ge Hong
Ge Hong
Ge 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...
, describes gu diagnosis and cure with ranghe:
A patient hurt by ku gets cutting pains at his heart and belly as if some living thing is gnawing there; sometimes he has a discharge of blood through the mouth or the anus. If he is not forthwith medically treated, it devours his five viscera, which entails his death. To discover whether it is ku or not, let the patient spit into water; if the spittle sinks, it is ku; if it floats, it is not. The recipe for discovering the name of the owner of the ku poison is as follows: take the skin of a drum, burn it, a small piece at a time, pulverize the ashes, and let the patient drink them with water; he will then forthwith mention the name; then bid this owner forthwith to remove the ku, and the patient will recover immediately. Again place some jang-ho leaves secretly under the mattress of the patient; he will then of his own accord immediately mention the name of the owner of the ku
Many gu-poison antidotes are homeopathic, in Western terms. The 8th-century pharmacologist Chen Cangqi (tr. Groot 1910 5:866) explains using venomous creatures both to produce and cure gu-poison.
In general reptiles and insects, which are used to make ku, are cures for ku; therefore, if we know what ku is at work, we may remedy its effects. Against ku of snakes that of centipedes should be used, against ku of centipedes that of frogs, against ku of frogs that of snakes, and so on. Those varieties of ku, having the power of subduing each other, may also have a curative effect .
Needham and Wang (1956:136) say prescribing gu poison as a cure or preventive suggests "that someone had stumbled on an immunisation process", and suggest scorpion-venom and centipede-venom as possible toxins.
Chen (tr. Schafer 1967:102, cf. Groot 1910 5:847) further describes catching and preparing medicine from the shapeshifting gu creature that,
… can conceal its form, and seem to be a ghost or spirit, and make misfortune for men. But after all it is only a reptile ghost. If one of them has bitten a person to death, it will sometimes emerge from one of that man's apertures. Watch and wait to catch it and dry it in the warmth of the sun; then, when someone is afflicted by the ku, burn it to ashes and give him a dose of it. Being akin, to it, the one quite naturally subdues the other.
Besides such homeopathic remedies, Schafer (1967:103) says one could,
give ku derived from particularly venomous creatures to overcome that taken from less lethal creatures. Thus centipede ku could be overcome by frog ku; serpent ku would prevail over frog ku, and so on. There were also soberer, though almost as powerful remedies: asafetida, python bile, civet, and a white substance taken from cock's dung were all used. It is not certain what real maladies these repellent drugs, cured, or seemed to cure. Probably they ranged from the psychosomatic to the virus-born. Many oedematous conditions were called ku, and it has been plausibly suggested that some cases were caused by intestinal parasites (hence the constant worm motif). Others are attributable to fish poisons and arrow poisons concocted by the forest dwellers.
Chinese folklore claims the definitive cure for gu-magic is passing it on to a greedy person. Eberhard (1968:153) says,
The most common way to get rid of the ku (just as of brownies and the golden-silkworm) was to give it away as a present. The actions of a man in Chang-chou (Fukien) are rather uncommon. He found on the ground a package containing three large silver bars wrapped in silk and in addition a ku which looked like a frog (ha-ma); in spite of the danger he took it; at night two large frogs appeared which he cooked and ate; on the next night more than ten smaller frogs appeared which he also ate up; and he continued consuming all frogs that kept appearing until the magic was cast off; in this fashion the man suffered no ill effects from the ku poison.
From descriptions of gu poisoning such involving "swollen abdomen, emaciation, and the presence of worms in the body orifices of the dead or living", Unschuld (1985:48) reasons, "Such symptoms allow a great number of possible explanations and interpretations". He suggests attitudes toward gu were based upon fear of others, envy, and greed. "But the concept of ku is unknown outside of China. Instead, one finds what may be its conceptual equivalent, the "evil eye", present in all "envy societies"."
External links
- The Cult of the Ku, Heuristic England