Huashu
Encyclopedia
The Huashu or The Book of Transformations, is a 930 CE Daoist classic about neidan
"internal alchemy", psychological subjectivity
, and spiritual transformation
. In the description of Poul Andersen,
(937-975 CE) chancellor Song Qiqiu 宋齊丘 first published it under his name, but evidence suggests he plagiarized the Huashu from its primary author Tan Qiao 譚峭, who later scholars confabulated with another roughly contemporaneous Daoist Tan Zixiao 譚紫霄 (see Kurz's 2006 discussion). Didier analyzes the authorship in detail, and believes (1998:147) "one reasonably can conclude only that while T'an Ch'iao wrote the essence of the Hua shu text, Sung edited and also emended it, and in the process corrupted both the structure of and the apparent philosophy expressed through the work."
), orphaned as a child, and self-educated. While serving as an official in the kingdom of Wu
(907-937), he befriended Xu Zhigao 徐之誥, and helped him to establish the Southern Tang and become Emperor Liezu
(r. 937-943). Song was appointed to various important administrative posts, including Chancellor on the Left. After the emperor died, Song retired to Mount Jiuhua and was called Jiuhua Xiansheng 九華先生 "Elder of [Mt.] Jiuhua". Liezu's successor Emperor Yuanzong
(r. 943-961) reappointed Song as chancellor and made him Duke of Chu (state)
. In 958 CE, Song was accused of treason and exiled to Jiuhua, where he hanged himself.
Song wrote a still-extant Huashu preface dated 930 CE and published the book under his name. Beginning in the Song Dynasty
some editions of the Huashu were titled the Qiqiuzi 齊丘子 "[Book of] Master Qiqiu".
Song Qiqiu's authorship was debunked in the 11th century. The Daoist priest Chen Jingyuan 陳景元 (ca. 1024-1094 CE) published the Huashu with his colophon dated 1060 CE, which records a story that Song stole the book from Tan Qiao. Chen heard this story from his master Zhang Wumeng 張無夢 (fl. ca. 960-1040), who heard it from his master Chen Tuan (871-989) who was a friend of Tan Qiao. This contemporary witness said Tan wrote the Huashu on Mount Zhongnan 終南 (Shaanxi
) and met Song Qiqiu while traveling through the capital Nanjing
to nearby Mount Mao 茅山, which was the center of Shangqing School
"Supreme Clarity" Daoism. Tan said, "The transformations of this book endlessly transform. I want you to preface it and pass it on to later generations." Song edited and published the book under his own name. He was posthumously called Choumiu 醜繆 "Disgraceful Error".
The 10th-century Xu xian zhuan 續仙傳 "Continued Biographies of Immortals", by Shen Fen 沈汾, has the earliest account of Tan Qiao. He was from Quanzhou
(in present-day Fujian
) and his Chinese style name
(zi 字) was Jingsheng 景升 "Brightness Ascending". His father Tan Zhu 譚洙, who was a director of the Guozijian
"Imperial Academy" during the Tang Dynasty
(618-907 CE), educated him in the Confucian classics and histories to prepare him for the Imperial examination
. Qiao was an excellent student but more interested in the Daoist classics, particularly the hagiographies of xian
仙 "immortals; transcendents". Tan Qiao left home to study Daoism on Mount Zhongnan and never returned. After travelling through the Sacred mountains of China
, he lived for a decade on Mount Song
嵩山 (Henan
), where Daoist priests taught him neidan alchemical techniques of bigu 辟榖 "abstention from cereals" and yangqi 養氣 "nourishing qi
", roughly corresponding with Western practices of inedia
and breatharianism. "He wore furs in summer and thin garments in winter, and he would often lie about in the snow and rain, to all appearances dead" (Herbert Giles
1898:710). This compares with the Himalayan tradition of tummo
, which is still practiced by the Kagyu
school. Tan's father regularly sent him money and clothing, which he promptly spent on wine and gave away. Tan later went south to Mount Nanyue 南岳, or Mount Heng (Hunan)
, where he allegedly perfected the jindan 金丹 "golden elixir" and could change shape, become invisible, and enter fire or water without being harmed (all Daoist metaphors for xian transcendence). Finally, he travelled to Mount Qingcheng
青城 (Sichuan
), where he disappeared.
Some sources confuse Tan Qiao with a more famous Daoist Tan Zixiao; both had the same Chinese surname
, both lived in the 10th century, and both traveled in southern China. This mistaken identification began with the Huashu edition in the 1607 CE Daozang
supplement Wanli xu daozang 萬歷緒道臧. Its preface notes that Tan Qiao's pseudonym
(hao 號) was Zixiao Zhenren 紫霄真人 "Perfected Person of the Purple Clouds/Skies" (Lembert and Schenkel 2002:213 translate "The True Man of the Purple Sky"). Later gazetteer
s and histories repeated this pseudonym, but Zixiao already referred to another Daoist named Tan.
正一 "Orthodox/Correct Unity" School.
Tan's earliest biography is found in the 12th-century Nan Tangshu 南唐書 "History of the Southern Tang" by Ma Ling 馬令 and Lu You
陸游. Tan Zixiao was from Quanzhou
(Fujian
), which was part of Min (Ten Kingdoms)
. He was a renowned Daoist priest (daoshi 道師) and shaman (wu
巫), and served at the court of King Wang Chang 王昶 (r. 935-939), who gave Tan the honorific title Zhengyi Xiansheng 正一先生 "Elder of Orthodox/Correct Unity". After the fall of Min, Tan escaped to Mount Lu (Jiangxi Province) and established the Daoist Qiyin guan 悽隱觀 "Abbey of Dwelling in Concealment". He supposedly possessed ancient talismans from Zhang Daoling
, the founder of the Tianshi Dao
"Way of Celestial Masters". Within this school, Tan Zixiao is considered the founder of the Tianxin zhengfa 天心正法 "Correct Methods of the Celestial Heart", which is an influential Daoist healing tradition that combines Tianshi automatic writing
talismans with shamanistic exorcisms. Reflecting the extent of Tan Zixiao's celebrity, Li Yu
李煜, the famous poet and last king of the Southern Tang (r. 961-975 CE), summoned the Daoist priest to court and lavished wealth and honors on him.
Didier definitively establishes that Tan Qiao and Tan Zixiao were two different people, contrasting aspects in each man's period, region, and activities. He concludes (1998:106) that while Tan Qiao was "engaged in internally directed mystical alchemical pursuits in primarily the north between the years 860 and 940", Tan Zixiao "was active in the externally directed work of shamanic ritual manipulations exclusively in the southeast between approximately 910 and 995." Didier (1998:123-124) further differentiates activities and affiliations of the two Tans. Tan Qiao "was a wandering eccentric engaged in the internally directed pursuit of immortality or perfection who favored loneliness and remote mountain retreats to the political and economic activity pursued by" Tan Zixiao, who "was a professional institutionalized Taoist priest, that is, a priest engaged in externally directed shamanic or sorcerous methods of healing and liturgy for the sake of gaining emolument." In terms of affiliation with schools of religious Daoism, Tan Zixiao's activities derived primarily from the 2nd-century Zhengyi "Orthodox/Correct Unity" sect of the Tianshi "Celestial Masters" movement, which emphasized communal rituals, registers, and talismans; Tan Qiao's heritage was more from the 5th-century southern Shangqing Highest Clarity" tradition, which emphasized personal cultivation, meditation, and visualization.
Most Huashu articles begin with a parable or example and then elaborate upon it. Individual articles are identified by chapter and number, for instance 1.1 Ziji Gong bi 紫極宮碑 "Stele at the Palace of the Purple Ultimate", 1.2 Sheqiao 蛇雀 "Snakes and Sparrows," 1.3 Laofeng 老楓 "Old Maple Trees", 1.4 Ermu 耳目 "Ears and Eyes". Unlike this 1.1 with four Chinese characters, all the other 109 Huashu titles have two characters, which suggests textual corruption or alteration.
The textual history of the Huashu was analyzed by Didier (1998:127-147) who differentiated two lines of transmission, the "secular" text originally published under the authorship of Song Qiqiu and the "Daoist" text written by Tan Qiao. The first transmission dates back to Song's 930 CE preface, which describes the Huashu as having 6 chapters and 110 articles. The second textual transmission dates back to Chen Jingyuan's 1060 CE edition of the Huashu credited to Tan Qiao. Didier (1998:131) concludes that in 14th-century China, the book "was widely known and read" and "two of what we might call Hua shu cultures existed, the secular or external and the Taoist/alchemical or internal."
The secular Huashu text, called the Qiqiuzi 齊丘子 "[Book of] Master [Song] Qiqiu" or Song Qiqiu Huashu 宋齊丘化書, is related to the 1144-46 CE Daozang "Daoist Canon" edition of the Huashu. Texts in this lineage have 110 articles, beginning with 1.1 "Stele at the Palace of the Purple Ultimate". The Daoist Huashu text, called the Tanzi 譚子 "[Book of] Master Tan [Qiao]" or Tanzi Huashu 譚子化書, is related to the 1457-1464 Daiwang 代王 (Hubei
) government-printed Huashu edition. Texts in this lineage have 109 articles, or 110 beginning with different 1.1 Daohua 道化 "Way Transformations" (also the chapter 1 title) or Shenhua 神化 "Spirit Transformations" titles. Many Huashu editions are currently available, and the Daozang includes two versions (CT 1044 and 1478).
Based on differences among Huashu editions (variant characters, taboo usages, etc.) and a 1023-33 CE text called the Wuhua 五化 "Five Transformations" credited to Tanzi "Master Tan", Didier (1998:141-44) suggests the original Huashu had 5 chapters instead of 6. This Wuhua closely resembles the Huashu except that it begins "The Utmost Way has five transformations therein" and that the "Way Transformations" (chapter 1 in received texts) subsumes the 5 Huashu chapters "Techniques, Potency, Humaneness, Food, and Frugality Transformations". His hypothesis that the original Huashu text had a quinary instead of sexpartite structure, and that the first chapter was Tan's original preface, is strengthened by the importance of 5 among numbers in Chinese culture. Take for instance the Huashu articles Wuxing 五行 "Five Phases/Elements" (4.2) and Wuchang 五常 "Five Constant [Virtues]" (3.1).
is bianhua 變化 "change; vary, variation; metamorphose; transmute". Two other common hua-compounds are huaxue 化學 (lit. "transformation study") "chemistry" and wenhua 文化 ("literacy transformation") "culture; civilization".
Hua "transformations" are a key topic in the Daoist Zhuangzi
. For instance, Victor H. Mair
translates it as "evolution" in this context.
James D. Sellmann elucidates the Daoist significance of hua.
This 10th-century Huashu "Book of Transformations", written by Tan Qiao and edited by Song Qiqiu, should be distinguished from a similarly titled 13th-century Daoist text — the Wendi huashu 文帝化書 "Book on the Transformations of Lord Wen" or Zitong dijun huashu 梓潼帝君化書 "Book of Transformations of the Divine Lord of Zitong" (tr. Kleeman 1994). It was supposedly revealed in automatic writing in 1181 and 1194 CE, and details the transformations of Wenchang 文昌, patron deity of the literary arts, also known as Zitong dijun 梓潼帝君.
The English title of the Huashu is usually "Book of Transformations" or "Book of Transformation", but it is also translated "Book of Alternations" (Moeller 2004:151) and "Scripture of Changes" — not to be confused with the Yijing" (Lembert and Schenkel 2002:213). "Book of Transformations" is used in titles of books about the Yijing (Anagarika Govinda 1981) and magic (Marian Green
2001), and "Book of Transformation" in one by the Dalai Lama
(2001).
, Western scholars are only beginning to appreciate it. Alexander Wylie (1901:158-159) first described the book, "The 化書 Hwa shoo or "Book of Transformation," written by 譚峭 T'an Seaou in the early part of the 10th century, is an ethical treatise, strongly impregnated with Taouist [sic] tendencies." The earliest European-language translation of the Huashu was in German. Alfred Forke (1934:338-49) discussed Tan Qiao's philosophy and translated over 20 articles.
Joseph Needham
and others studying the history of science and technology in China
have rediscovered the Huashu, which he called (1956:444) "a work of much importance". Note that Needham's unusual system of romanization is changed to pinyin
, for instance, substituting [Tan Qiao] for "Than Chhiao".
Evaluating Chinese proto-scientific texts from the Tang
and Song
dynasties, Needham cites Xingying 形影 "Objects and Images" (1.7),
Moeller (2004:152) notes Tan's room of parallel mirror images "is obviously indebted to an earlier Buddhist example." The Huayan patriarch Fazang
used an illuminated statue of the Buddha inside a room of mirroring mirrors to illustrate Indra's net
to Empress Wu Zetian
. Needham additionally (1956:450) cites a zoological example of subjectivity from Xiaoji 梟雞 "Owls and Hens" (1.9) – written eight centuries before John Locke
made the primary/secondary quality distinction
. "For the owl, [Tan Qiao] says, the night is bright and the day dark; for the hen the converse is true, as for ourselves. Which of the two, he asks, in good Taoist style, is to be considered 'normal' and which 'abnormal'?"
Needham (1956:451) refers to Shehu 射虎 "Shooting Tigers" (1.11), which relates optical illusions with Daoist philosophy of perception
. "A man may shoot at a striped stone, he says, under the impression that it is a tiger, or at a ripple on the water, under the impression that it is a crocodile. Moreover, even if these animals are really there, his attention may be so concentrated on them that he will simply not see the stones or the water beside them."
The Huashu article Sijing 四鏡 "Four Lenses" (1.10), with the earliest known reference to the basic types of simple lenses, metaphorically illustrates relativism
and, in modern terms, subjective idealism
.
Needham notes that Giambattista della Porta
's 1593 De refraction, optics parte was the first European treatment of these fundamental lens types.
Dahan 大含 "Great Containment" (1.24) discusses how sound originates from disturbances in qi
氣 "air; vapor; pneuma; energy; vital force", a theory that Needham (1962:207) calls "far more advanced than the Pythagorean conception of sounds as a stuff composed of numbers."
Several other Huashu articles mention this Daoist transformational series between xu 虚 "emptiness; void", shen 神 "spirit; god", qi 氣, and xing 形 "form; shape; material things". They are said to be reversible back to emptiness (1.1), to exist everywhere (1.3), to all be one (1.16), to all contain each other (2.19), to transform from life to death and back to emptiness (1.20), and, adding a transformation from xing to jing 精 "essence" (cf. the Three Treasures
), to underlie all human problems (1.15).
Other scholars quote the Huashu from Needham. Galeotti, Menconi, and Fronzoni (2003:90) suggest "surprising references to the butterfly effect
" in "Great Containment" (1.24). Davies (2003:4) compares Francis Crick
's The Astonishing Hypothesis
with "Shooting Tigers" (1.11) that uses "optical illusions and human inattention to press the view that we pick out certain elements of reality to form our world-picture."
The Huashu has untold significance to the histories of philosophy and science. One final example mentions classical conditioning
a millennium before Ivan Pavlov
discovered it. Geng Xin 庚辛 "The Geng and Xin [Families]" (5.10) recounts how two neighbors, figuratively named after the 7th and 8th Celestial stems, used different materials to construct fish ponds.
The Huashu, unlike most other Daoist classics, is not available in English translation, with the unpublished exceptions of a MA thesis and a PhD dissertation.
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...
"internal alchemy", psychological subjectivity
Subjectivity
Subjectivity refers to the subject and his or her perspective, feelings, beliefs, and desires. In philosophy, the term is usually contrasted with objectivity.-Qualia:...
, and spiritual transformation
Spiritual transformation
Spiritual transformation has a variety of overlapping meanings that carry distinct connotations:*In psychology, spiritual transformation is understood within the context of an individual's meaning system, especially in relation to concepts of the sacred or ultimate concern...
. In the description of Poul Andersen,
The Huashu is a unique philosophical work of the period of the Five Dynasties, which syncretizes elements of Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucian thought, and which has been noted in recent times for its scientific observations (for instance regarding optics and acoustics) and for its unusual emphasis on epistemological considerations. Its influence during the Song and subsequent dynasties was substantial, both within Taoist and Confucian metaphysics, and especially as foundation of alchemical thought. (2007:517-8)
Authors
Authorship of the Huashu is associated with three people. The Southern TangSouthern Tang
Southern Tang was one of the Ten Kingdoms in south-central China created following the Tang Dynasty from 937-975. Southern Tang replaced the Wu Kingdom when Li Bian deposed the emperor Yang Pu....
(937-975 CE) chancellor Song Qiqiu 宋齊丘 first published it under his name, but evidence suggests he plagiarized the Huashu from its primary author Tan Qiao 譚峭, who later scholars confabulated with another roughly contemporaneous Daoist Tan Zixiao 譚紫霄 (see Kurz's 2006 discussion). Didier analyzes the authorship in detail, and believes (1998:147) "one reasonably can conclude only that while T'an Ch'iao wrote the essence of the Hua shu text, Sung edited and also emended it, and in the process corrupted both the structure of and the apparent philosophy expressed through the work."
Song Qiqiu
Song Qiqiu was Chancellor of the Southern Tang kingdom, which was one of the Ten Kingdoms. He was born in Luling 廬陵 (present-day JiangxiJiangxi
' is a southern province in the People's Republic of China. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze River in the north into hillier areas in the south, it shares a border with Anhui to the north, Zhejiang to the northeast, Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, Hunan to the west, and Hubei to...
), orphaned as a child, and self-educated. While serving as an official in the kingdom of Wu
Wu (Ten Kingdoms)
Wu , also referred to as Huainan , Hongnong , Southern Wu , or Yang Wu , was one of the Ten Kingdoms in south-central China which was in existence between the years of 907 and 937. Its capital was Jiangdu Municipality...
(907-937), he befriended Xu Zhigao 徐之誥, and helped him to establish the Southern Tang and become Emperor Liezu
Emperor Liezu of Southern Tang
Emperor Liezu of Southern Tang , also known as Xianzhu of Southern Tang , personal name Li Bian , earlier also known as Xu Zhigao , courtesy name Zhenglun , nickname Pengnu , was the founder of the Southern Tang kingdom, one of the most successful of the Ten Kingdoms of the...
(r. 937-943). Song was appointed to various important administrative posts, including Chancellor on the Left. After the emperor died, Song retired to Mount Jiuhua and was called Jiuhua Xiansheng 九華先生 "Elder of [Mt.] Jiuhua". Liezu's successor Emperor Yuanzong
Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang
Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang , also known as Zhongzhu of Southern Tang , personal name Li Jing , né Xu Jingtong Emperor Yuanzong of Southern Tang (南唐元宗), also known as Zhongzhu of Southern Tang (南唐中主, literally "the middle lord of Southern Tang"), personal name Li Jing (李璟, later changed to...
(r. 943-961) reappointed Song as chancellor and made him Duke of Chu (state)
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...
. In 958 CE, Song was accused of treason and exiled to Jiuhua, where he hanged himself.
Song wrote a still-extant Huashu preface dated 930 CE and published the book under his name. Beginning in the 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...
some editions of the Huashu were titled the Qiqiuzi 齊丘子 "[Book of] Master Qiqiu".
Song Qiqiu's authorship was debunked in the 11th century. The Daoist priest Chen Jingyuan 陳景元 (ca. 1024-1094 CE) published the Huashu with his colophon dated 1060 CE, which records a story that Song stole the book from Tan Qiao. Chen heard this story from his master Zhang Wumeng 張無夢 (fl. ca. 960-1040), who heard it from his master Chen Tuan (871-989) who was a friend of Tan Qiao. This contemporary witness said Tan wrote the Huashu on Mount Zhongnan 終南 (Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
) and met Song Qiqiu while traveling through the capital Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
to nearby Mount Mao 茅山, which was the center of Shangqing School
Shangqing 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...
"Supreme Clarity" Daoism. Tan said, "The transformations of this book endlessly transform. I want you to preface it and pass it on to later generations." Song edited and published the book under his own name. He was posthumously called Choumiu 醜繆 "Disgraceful Error".
Tan Qiao
The Huashu was originally written by the Daoist Tan Qiao , whom Anderson (2007:518) describes as a "shadowy figure".The 10th-century Xu xian zhuan 續仙傳 "Continued Biographies of Immortals", by Shen Fen 沈汾, has the earliest account of Tan Qiao. He was from Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
(in present-day 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...
) and his Chinese style name
Chinese style name
A Chinese style name, sometimes also known as a courtesy name , is a given name to be used later in life. After 20 years of age, the zì is assigned in place of one's given name as a symbol of adulthood and respect...
(zi 字) was Jingsheng 景升 "Brightness Ascending". His father Tan Zhu 譚洙, who was a director of the Guozijian
Guozijian
The Guozijian , or Kuo Tzu Chien, the School of the Sons of State, sometimes called the Imperial Academy, Imperial College, Imperial Central School, was the national central institute of learning in Chinese dynasties after the Sui. It was the highest institute of learning in China's traditional...
"Imperial Academy" during 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...
(618-907 CE), educated him in the Confucian classics and histories to prepare him for the Imperial examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...
. Qiao was an excellent student but more interested in the Daoist classics, particularly the hagiographies of xian
Xian (Taoism)
Xian is a Chinese word for an enlightened person, translatable in English as:*"spiritually immortal; transcendent; super-human; celestial being"...
仙 "immortals; transcendents". Tan Qiao left home to study Daoism on Mount Zhongnan and never returned. After travelling through the Sacred mountains of China
Sacred Mountains of China
The Sacred Mountains of China are divided into two groups, one associated with Taoism and the other with Buddhism. The group associated with Taoism is known as the Five Great Mountains , whereas the group associated with Buddhism is referred to as the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism .The sacred...
, he lived for a decade on Mount Song
Mount Song
Mount Song, known in Chinese as Song Shan , is one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism and is located in Henan province on the south bank of the Yellow River in China...
嵩山 (Henan
Henan
Henan , is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the central part of the country. Its one-character abbreviation is "豫" , named after Yuzhou , a Han Dynasty state that included parts of Henan...
), where Daoist priests taught him neidan alchemical techniques of bigu 辟榖 "abstention from cereals" and yangqi 養氣 "nourishing qi
Qi
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...
", roughly corresponding with Western practices of inedia
Inedia
Inedia is the alleged ability to live without food. The word was first used to describe a fast-based lifestyle within Catholic tradition, which holds that certain saints were able to survive for extended periods of time without food or drink other than the Eucharist.Breatharianism is a related...
and breatharianism. "He wore furs in summer and thin garments in winter, and he would often lie about in the snow and rain, to all appearances dead" (Herbert Giles
Herbert Giles
Herbert Allen Giles was a British diplomat and sinologist, educated at Charterhouse. He modified a Mandarin Chinese Romanization system earlier established by Thomas Wade, resulting in the widely known Wade-Giles Chinese transliteration system...
1898:710). This compares with the Himalayan tradition of tummo
Tummo
Tummo is one of the methods of the Kagyu Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism used to recognize the ultimate nature of reality...
, which is still practiced by the Kagyu
Kagyu
The Kagyu, Kagyupa, or Kagyud school, also known as the "Oral Lineage" or Whispered Transmission school, is today regarded as one of six main schools of Himalayan or Tibetan Buddhism, the other five being the Nyingma, Sakya, Jonang, Bon and Gelug...
school. Tan's father regularly sent him money and clothing, which he promptly spent on wine and gave away. Tan later went south to Mount Nanyue 南岳, or Mount Heng (Hunan)
Mount Heng (Hunan)
Mount Heng , also known as Nan Yue , is located in Hunan Province, People's Republic of China and is one of the Five Sacred Mountains of Taoism in China. Heng Shan is a mountain range long with 72 peaks and lies at 27.254798°N and 112.655743°E...
, where he allegedly perfected the jindan 金丹 "golden elixir" and could change shape, become invisible, and enter fire or water without being harmed (all Daoist metaphors for xian transcendence). Finally, he travelled to Mount Qingcheng
Mount Qingcheng
Mount Qingcheng is a mountain in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, China. It is amongst the most important centres of Taoism in China. In Taoism mythology, it was the site of the Yellow Emperor's studies with Ning Fengzhi. As a centre of the Daoist religion it became host to many temples. The mountain has 36...
青城 (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...
), where he disappeared.
Some sources confuse Tan Qiao with a more famous Daoist Tan Zixiao; both had the same Chinese surname
Chinese surname
Chinese family names have been historically used by Han Chinese and Sinicized Chinese ethnic groups in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and among overseas Chinese communities. In ancient times two types of surnames, family names and clan names , existed.The colloquial expressions laobaixing...
, both lived in the 10th century, and both traveled in southern China. This mistaken identification began with the Huashu edition in the 1607 CE Daozang
Daozang
Daozang , meaning "Treasury of Dao" or "Daoist Canon", consists of around 1400 texts that were collected circa C.E. 400...
supplement Wanli xu daozang 萬歷緒道臧. Its preface notes that Tan Qiao's pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
(hao 號) was Zixiao Zhenren 紫霄真人 "Perfected Person of the Purple Clouds/Skies" (Lembert and Schenkel 2002:213 translate "The True Man of the Purple Sky"). Later gazetteer
Gazetteer
A gazetteer is a geographical dictionary or directory, an important reference for information about places and place names , used in conjunction with a map or a full atlas. It typically contains information concerning the geographical makeup of a country, region, or continent as well as the social...
s and histories repeated this pseudonym, but Zixiao already referred to another Daoist named Tan.
Tan Zixiao
Tan Zixiao was a celebrated Daoist in the Zhengyi DaoZhengyi Dao
Zhenyi Dao or the Way of Complete Orthodoxy is a Chinese Daoist movement that emerged during the Tang Dynasty as a transformation of the earlier Tianshi Dao movement...
正一 "Orthodox/Correct Unity" School.
Tan's earliest biography is found in the 12th-century Nan Tangshu 南唐書 "History of the Southern Tang" by Ma Ling 馬令 and Lu You
Lu You
Lu You , was a Chinese poet of the Southern Song dynasty.-Early life and marriage:Lu You was born on a boat floating in the Wei River early on a rainy morning, October 17, 1125...
陸游. Tan Zixiao was from Quanzhou
Quanzhou
Quanzhou is a prefecture-level city in Fujian province, People's Republic of China. It borders all other prefecture-level cities in Fujian but two and faces the Taiwan Strait...
(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...
), which was part of Min (Ten Kingdoms)
Min (Ten Kingdoms)
Min was one of the Ten Kingdoms which was in existence between the years of 909 and 945. It existed in a mountainous region of modern day Fujian province of China and had a history of quasi-independent rule. Its capital was Fuzhou 福州. It was founded by Wang Shenzhi .-Founding:Wang Shenzhi’s older...
. He was a renowned Daoist priest (daoshi 道師) and shaman (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), and served at the court of King Wang Chang 王昶 (r. 935-939), who gave Tan the honorific title Zhengyi Xiansheng 正一先生 "Elder of Orthodox/Correct Unity". After the fall of Min, Tan escaped to Mount Lu (Jiangxi Province) and established the Daoist Qiyin guan 悽隱觀 "Abbey of Dwelling in Concealment". He supposedly possessed ancient talismans from Zhang Daoling
Zhang Daoling
Zhang Ling , style name Fuhan , was an Eastern Han Dynasty Taoist hermit who founded the Way of the Celestial Masters sect of Taoism, which is also known as the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice....
, the founder of the Tianshi Dao
Tianshi Dao
Tianshi Dao or Way of the Celestial Masters is a Chinese Daoist movement that was founded by Zhang Daoling in 142 CE. At its height, the movement controlled a theocratic state in what is now Sichuan.-Way of the Five Pecks of Rice:...
"Way of Celestial Masters". Within this school, Tan Zixiao is considered the founder of the Tianxin zhengfa 天心正法 "Correct Methods of the Celestial Heart", which is an influential Daoist healing tradition that combines Tianshi automatic writing
Automatic writing
Automatic writing or psychography is writing which the writer states to be produced from a subconscious and/or spiritual source without conscious awareness of the content.-History:...
talismans with shamanistic exorcisms. Reflecting the extent of Tan Zixiao's celebrity, Li Yu
Li Houzhu
Li Houzhu , also known as Houzhu of Southern Tang , personal name Li Yu , né Li Congjia , courtesy name Chongguang , posthumously known as Prince of Wu , was the last ruler of the Southern Tang Kingdom from 961 to 975 during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms...
李煜, the famous poet and last king of the Southern Tang (r. 961-975 CE), summoned the Daoist priest to court and lavished wealth and honors on him.
Didier definitively establishes that Tan Qiao and Tan Zixiao were two different people, contrasting aspects in each man's period, region, and activities. He concludes (1998:106) that while Tan Qiao was "engaged in internally directed mystical alchemical pursuits in primarily the north between the years 860 and 940", Tan Zixiao "was active in the externally directed work of shamanic ritual manipulations exclusively in the southeast between approximately 910 and 995." Didier (1998:123-124) further differentiates activities and affiliations of the two Tans. Tan Qiao "was a wandering eccentric engaged in the internally directed pursuit of immortality or perfection who favored loneliness and remote mountain retreats to the political and economic activity pursued by" Tan Zixiao, who "was a professional institutionalized Taoist priest, that is, a priest engaged in externally directed shamanic or sorcerous methods of healing and liturgy for the sake of gaining emolument." In terms of affiliation with schools of religious Daoism, Tan Zixiao's activities derived primarily from the 2nd-century Zhengyi "Orthodox/Correct Unity" sect of the Tianshi "Celestial Masters" movement, which emphasized communal rituals, registers, and talismans; Tan Qiao's heritage was more from the 5th-century southern Shangqing Highest Clarity" tradition, which emphasized personal cultivation, meditation, and visualization.
Text
The received Huashu text contains 110 articles or sections (pian 篇) arranged in 6 chapters (juan 卷), named after types of hua 化 "transformation; change; conversion".| Chapter | Chinese | Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into... | English Translation | Articles |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 道化 | Daohua | Way Transformations | 24 |
| 2 | 術化 | Shuhua | Techniques Transformations | 21 |
| 3 | 德化 | Dehua | Potency Transformations | 16 |
| 4 | 仁化 | Renhua | Humaneness Transformations | 17 |
| 5 | 食化 | Shihua | Food Transformations | 15 |
| 6 | 儉化 | Jianhua | Frugality Transformations | 17 |
Most Huashu articles begin with a parable or example and then elaborate upon it. Individual articles are identified by chapter and number, for instance 1.1 Ziji Gong bi 紫極宮碑 "Stele at the Palace of the Purple Ultimate", 1.2 Sheqiao 蛇雀 "Snakes and Sparrows," 1.3 Laofeng 老楓 "Old Maple Trees", 1.4 Ermu 耳目 "Ears and Eyes". Unlike this 1.1 with four Chinese characters, all the other 109 Huashu titles have two characters, which suggests textual corruption or alteration.
The textual history of the Huashu was analyzed by Didier (1998:127-147) who differentiated two lines of transmission, the "secular" text originally published under the authorship of Song Qiqiu and the "Daoist" text written by Tan Qiao. The first transmission dates back to Song's 930 CE preface, which describes the Huashu as having 6 chapters and 110 articles. The second textual transmission dates back to Chen Jingyuan's 1060 CE edition of the Huashu credited to Tan Qiao. Didier (1998:131) concludes that in 14th-century China, the book "was widely known and read" and "two of what we might call Hua shu cultures existed, the secular or external and the Taoist/alchemical or internal."
The secular Huashu text, called the Qiqiuzi 齊丘子 "[Book of] Master [Song] Qiqiu" or Song Qiqiu Huashu 宋齊丘化書, is related to the 1144-46 CE Daozang "Daoist Canon" edition of the Huashu. Texts in this lineage have 110 articles, beginning with 1.1 "Stele at the Palace of the Purple Ultimate". The Daoist Huashu text, called the Tanzi 譚子 "[Book of] Master Tan [Qiao]" or Tanzi Huashu 譚子化書, is related to the 1457-1464 Daiwang 代王 (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...
) government-printed Huashu edition. Texts in this lineage have 109 articles, or 110 beginning with different 1.1 Daohua 道化 "Way Transformations" (also the chapter 1 title) or Shenhua 神化 "Spirit Transformations" titles. Many Huashu editions are currently available, and the Daozang includes two versions (CT 1044 and 1478).
Based on differences among Huashu editions (variant characters, taboo usages, etc.) and a 1023-33 CE text called the Wuhua 五化 "Five Transformations" credited to Tanzi "Master Tan", Didier (1998:141-44) suggests the original Huashu had 5 chapters instead of 6. This Wuhua closely resembles the Huashu except that it begins "The Utmost Way has five transformations therein" and that the "Way Transformations" (chapter 1 in received texts) subsumes the 5 Huashu chapters "Techniques, Potency, Humaneness, Food, and Frugality Transformations". His hypothesis that the original Huashu text had a quinary instead of sexpartite structure, and that the first chapter was Tan's original preface, is strengthened by the importance of 5 among numbers in Chinese culture. Take for instance the Huashu articles Wuxing 五行 "Five Phases/Elements" (4.2) and Wuchang 五常 "Five Constant [Virtues]" (3.1).
Title
The textual theme and namesake is hua 化 " transform, change, convert, turn into; (physically) melt, dissolve; digest; incinerate; (individually) change into; metamorphose; take the form of; disguise oneself; (Buddhism) reincarnate; (euphemism) die; pass away". Wenlin interprets this Chinese character, "化 huà depicts a person and a person upside-down. The left side is 亻 (人 rén) 'person'. The right side 匕 was originally 人 upside-down. A person who flips, changes." The closest synonym is bian 變 "change, change into, become; transform; adapt; perform (magic, etc.), and their compoundCompound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
is bianhua 變化 "change; vary, variation; metamorphose; transmute". Two other common hua-compounds are huaxue 化學 (lit. "transformation study") "chemistry" and wenhua 文化 ("literacy transformation") "culture; civilization".
Hua "transformations" are a key topic in the Daoist 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,...
. For instance, Victor H. Mair
Victor H. Mair
Victor Henry Mair is a Philologist specializing in Sinitic and Indo-European languages, and holds the position of Professor of Chinese Language and Literature in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States...
translates it as "evolution" in this context.
Nuncle Scattered and Nuncle Slippery were observing the mounds of the Earl of Darkness in the emptiness of K'unlun where the Yellow Emperor rested. Suddenly a willow began to sprout from Nuncle Slippery's left elbow. He looked startled, as though he resented it."Do you resent it?" asked Nuncle Scattered. "No," said Nuncle Slippery. "Why should I resent it? Our lives are just a borrowed pretext. That which we borrow to maintain our lives is merely so much dust. Life and death alternate like day and night. As you and I were observing evolution, it caught up with me. So why should I resent it? (1994:169)
James D. Sellmann elucidates the Daoist significance of hua.
There is no conclusion, no end, no finish for the Zhuangzi. Things transpose, and keep on changing. Therefore, the compassionate meaning and empathic understanding of "transformation" as it is mentioned in the context of the Zhuangzi encompasses each and every thing – in the natural world and the human world. From this perspective, transformation entails a magnitude of meaning, or "spiritual" dimension (in the sense of "high spirits" or "laughter"). Transformation is not just change of form and shape (bian 變) or a change of things and situations (yi 易), but it also entails a complete renewal of the experience of life's meaning (hua 化). Hua provides a way to move through various shapes or bodily forms within a species and across species to merge with each unique perspective, and to experience a mystical continuity with the particulars of nature. In chapter two of the Zhuangzi, the mystical experience is described in these terms; "heaven and earth were born together with me, and the myriad things and I are one" (5/2/52-53). The way hua is played out in the Zhuangzi is very telling, especially in the context of elaborating on the mystical experience. (1998:170)
This 10th-century Huashu "Book of Transformations", written by Tan Qiao and edited by Song Qiqiu, should be distinguished from a similarly titled 13th-century Daoist text — the Wendi huashu 文帝化書 "Book on the Transformations of Lord Wen" or Zitong dijun huashu 梓潼帝君化書 "Book of Transformations of the Divine Lord of Zitong" (tr. Kleeman 1994). It was supposedly revealed in automatic writing in 1181 and 1194 CE, and details the transformations of Wenchang 文昌, patron deity of the literary arts, also known as Zitong dijun 梓潼帝君.
The English title of the Huashu is usually "Book of Transformations" or "Book of Transformation", but it is also translated "Book of Alternations" (Moeller 2004:151) and "Scripture of Changes" — not to be confused with the Yijing" (Lembert and Schenkel 2002:213). "Book of Transformations" is used in titles of books about the Yijing (Anagarika Govinda 1981) and magic (Marian Green
Marian Green
Marian Green is an author who has been working in the field of ceremonial and folk magic since the early 1960s. She has also organized a conference every March since 1968 to bring together writers and their readers, the Quest Conference. She has written more than a dozen books on ceremonial magic...
2001), and "Book of Transformation" in one by the Dalai Lama
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Mongolian word далай meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word bla-ma meaning "teacher"...
(2001).
Contents
While generations of Chinese literati have studied the Huashu as a philosophical text, notably in terms of Neo-ConfucianismNeo-Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism is an ethical and metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, that was primarily developed during the Song Dynasty and Ming Dynasty, but which can be traced back to Han Yu and Li Ao in the Tang Dynasty....
, Western scholars are only beginning to appreciate it. Alexander Wylie (1901:158-159) first described the book, "The 化書 Hwa shoo or "Book of Transformation," written by 譚峭 T'an Seaou in the early part of the 10th century, is an ethical treatise, strongly impregnated with Taouist [sic] tendencies." The earliest European-language translation of the Huashu was in German. Alfred Forke (1934:338-49) discussed Tan Qiao's philosophy and translated over 20 articles.
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...
and others studying the history of science and technology in China
History of science and technology in China
The history of science and technology in China is both long and rich with many contributions to science and technology. In antiquity, independently of other civilizations, ancient Chinese philosophers made significant advances in science, technology, mathematics, and astronomy...
have rediscovered the Huashu, which he called (1956:444) "a work of much importance". Note that Needham's unusual system of romanization is changed to pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
, for instance, substituting [Tan Qiao] for "Than Chhiao".
Evaluating Chinese proto-scientific texts from the Tang
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...
and Song
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...
dynasties, Needham cites Xingying 形影 "Objects and Images" (1.7),
Of all these books, the most original from the point of view of the philosophy of science is probably the Hua Shu. [Tan Qiao] (if he was really its author) developed a special kind of subjective realism, in which he emphasized that though the external world was real, our knowledge of it was so deeply affected by subjective factors that its full reality could not be said to have been seized (this, of course, is an attempt to express his point of view in modern terms). First he considers an infinite regress of images of an object in oppositely placed plane mirrors. The form and colour of the object ([xing] 形) is perfectly retained in each of the successive images (ying 影). Since it can exist without them, it is not alone and in itself complete ([shi] 實), but since they perfectly reproduce its form and colour, they are not in themselves empty ([xu] 虛); or, as might be said in modern terms, it is not fully real, but they are not fully unreal. Now that which is neither real nor not-real, concludes [Tan Qiao], is akin to the Tao. (1956:450)
Moeller (2004:152) notes Tan's room of parallel mirror images "is obviously indebted to an earlier Buddhist example." The Huayan patriarch Fazang
Fazang
Fazang was the third of the five patriarchs of the Huayan school. He is said to have authored over a hundred volumes of essays and commentaries. He is famed for his empirical demonstrations in the court of Empress Wu Zetian. His essays "On a Golden Lion" and "On a Mote of Dust" are among the most...
used an illuminated statue of the Buddha inside a room of mirroring mirrors to illustrate Indra's net
Indra's net
Indra's net is a metaphor used to illustrate the concepts of emptiness, dependent origination, and interpenetration in Buddhist philosophy...
to 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...
. Needham additionally (1956:450) cites a zoological example of subjectivity from Xiaoji 梟雞 "Owls and Hens" (1.9) – written eight centuries before John Locke
John Locke
John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...
made the primary/secondary quality distinction
Primary/secondary quality distinction
The primary/secondary quality distinction is a conceptual distinction in epistemology and metaphysics, concerning the nature of reality. It is most explicitly articulated by John Locke in his Essay concerning Human Understanding, but earlier thinkers such as Galileo and Descartes made similar...
. "For the owl, [Tan Qiao] says, the night is bright and the day dark; for the hen the converse is true, as for ourselves. Which of the two, he asks, in good Taoist style, is to be considered 'normal' and which 'abnormal'?"
Needham (1956:451) refers to Shehu 射虎 "Shooting Tigers" (1.11), which relates optical illusions with Daoist philosophy of perception
Philosophy of perception
The philosophy of perception is concerned with the nature of perceptual experience and the status of perceptual data, in particular how they relate to beliefs about, or knowledge of, the world. Any explicit account of perception requires a commitment to one of a variety of ontological or...
. "A man may shoot at a striped stone, he says, under the impression that it is a tiger, or at a ripple on the water, under the impression that it is a crocodile. Moreover, even if these animals are really there, his attention may be so concentrated on them that he will simply not see the stones or the water beside them."
The Huashu article Sijing 四鏡 "Four Lenses" (1.10), with the earliest known reference to the basic types of simple lenses, metaphorically illustrates relativism
Relativism
Relativism is the concept that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration....
and, in modern terms, subjective idealism
Subjective idealism
Subjective idealism, or empirical idealism, is the monistic metaphysical doctrine that only minds and mental contents exist. It entails and is generally identified or associated with immaterialism, the doctrine that physical things do not exist...
.
I have always by me four lenses. The first is called [gui] 璧 (the 'sceptre', a diverging bi-concave lens). The second is called [zhu] 珠 (the 'pearl', biconvex). The third is called [zhi] 砥 (the 'whetstone', plano-concave). The fourth is called [yu] 盂 (the 'bowl', plano-convex). With [gui] the object is larger (than the image). With [zhu] the object is smaller (than the image). With [zhi] the image appears upright. With [yu] the image appears inverted. When one looks at shapes or human forms through such instruments, one realizes that there is no such thing as (absolute) large or small, short or long, beautiful or ugly, desirable or hateful. (tr. Needham 1956:451, 1962:117)
Needham notes that Giambattista della Porta
Giambattista della Porta
Giambattista della Porta , also known as Giovanni Battista Della Porta and John Baptist Porta, was an Italian scholar, polymath and playwright who lived in Naples at the time of the Scientific Revolution and Reformation....
's 1593 De refraction, optics parte was the first European treatment of these fundamental lens types.
Dahan 大含 "Great Containment" (1.24) discusses how sound originates from disturbances in qi
Qi
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...
氣 "air; vapor; pneuma; energy; vital force", a theory that Needham (1962:207) calls "far more advanced than the Pythagorean conception of sounds as a stuff composed of numbers."
The void ([xu] 虛) is transformed into (magical) power (shen 神). (Magical) power is transformed into [qi]. [Qi] is transformed into material things ([xing] 形). Material things and [qi] ride on one another ([xing qi xiang cheng] 形氣相乘), and thus sound is formed. It is not the ear which listens to sound but sound which of itself makes its way into the ear. It is not the valley which of itself gives out echoing sound, but sound of itself fills up the entire valley.
An ear is a small hollow ([qiao] 竅) and a valley is a large hollow. Mountains and marshes are a 'small valley' and Heaven and Earth are a 'large valley'. (Theoretically speaking, then) if one hollow gives out sound ten thousand hollows will all give out sound; if sound can be heard in one valley it should be heard in all the ten thousand valleys. Sound leads (back again) to [qi]; [qi] leads (back again) to (magical) power (shen 神); (magical) power leads (back again) to the void. (But) the void has in it (the potentiality for) power. The power has in it (the potentiality for) [qi]. [Qi] has in it (the potentiality for) sound. One leads (back again) to the other, which has (a potentiality for) the former within itself. (If this reversion and production were to be prolonged) even the tiny noises of mosquitoes and flies would be able to reach everywhere. (tr. Needham 1962:207-208)
Several other Huashu articles mention this Daoist transformational series between xu 虚 "emptiness; void", shen 神 "spirit; god", qi 氣, and xing 形 "form; shape; material things". They are said to be reversible back to emptiness (1.1), to exist everywhere (1.3), to all be one (1.16), to all contain each other (2.19), to transform from life to death and back to emptiness (1.20), and, adding a transformation from xing to jing 精 "essence" (cf. the Three Treasures
Three Treasures (traditional Chinese medicine)
The Three Treasures or Three Jewels are theoretical cornerstones in traditional Chinese medicine and practices such as Neidan, Qigong, and T'ai chi. They are also known as Jing Qi Shen . Despeux summarizes....
), to underlie all human problems (1.15).
Other scholars quote the Huashu from Needham. Galeotti, Menconi, and Fronzoni (2003:90) suggest "surprising references to the butterfly effect
Butterfly effect
In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependence on initial conditions; where a small change at one place in a nonlinear system can result in large differences to a later state...
" in "Great Containment" (1.24). Davies (2003:4) compares Francis Crick
Francis Crick
Francis Harry Compton Crick OM FRS was an English molecular biologist, biophysicist, and neuroscientist, and most noted for being one of two co-discoverers of the structure of the DNA molecule in 1953, together with James D. Watson...
's The Astonishing Hypothesis
The Astonishing Hypothesis
The Astonishing Hypothesisis a 1994 book by scientist Francis Crick about consciousness. Crick, one of the co-discoverers of the molecular structure of DNA in 1953, later became a theorist for neurobiology and the study of the brain...
with "Shooting Tigers" (1.11) that uses "optical illusions and human inattention to press the view that we pick out certain elements of reality to form our world-picture."
The Huashu has untold significance to the histories of philosophy and science. One final example mentions classical conditioning
Classical conditioning
Classical conditioning is a form of conditioning that was first demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov...
a millennium before Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Pavlov
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was a famous Russian physiologist. Although he made significant contributions to psychology, he was not in fact a psychologist himself but was a mathematician and actually had strong distaste for the field....
discovered it. Geng Xin 庚辛 "The Geng and Xin [Families]" (5.10) recounts how two neighbors, figuratively named after the 7th and 8th Celestial stems, used different materials to construct fish ponds.
The Geng's fish pond had a bamboo railing that made a ce-ce 策策 sound when leaned upon, and the Xin's had a wooden one that made a tang-tang 堂堂 sound. Both families fed their fish daily and the fish learned to leap out of the water when they heard these sounds. But even if they were not being fed, the fish leapt whenever they heard these respective sounds. Thus, the Geng's fish could be called with ce-ce and the Xin's fish with tang-tang, which is a Food Transformation. [庚氏穴池，构竹为凭槛，登之者其声“策策”焉。辛氏穴池，构木为凭槛，登之者其“堂堂”焉。二氏俱牧鱼于池中，每凭槛投饥，鱼必踊跃而出。他日但闻“策策”“堂堂”之声，不投饵亦踊跃而出，则是庚氏之鱼可名“策策”，辛氏之鱼可名“堂堂”，食之化也。]
The Huashu, unlike most other Daoist classics, is not available in English translation, with the unpublished exceptions of a MA thesis and a PhD dissertation.
External links
- The Book of Transformation, Taoist Culture & Information Centre 化书, Huashu in simplified characters, The Online School of Peking University 化書, Daozang CT 1044 edition 譚子化書, Daozang CT 1478 edition