Baopuzi (“the Master Who Embraces Simplicity”) was the style name of Ge Hong, a Taoist theorist of the Eastern Jin dynasty. He inherited and developed the theory of immortals current since the Warring States period, and on the basis of material on immortality from the Qin, Han, Wei, and Jin, he gathered and organized widely, summing up the many transformations of the immortals. Combining this with the ingestion of drugs and elixirs, myths and legends, yin and yang and the Five Phases, and talismans and incantations, he formed a theoretical system of immortality-centered Taoism that used “the Golden Elixir,” “immortality drugs,” “immortals,” and “Taoist books” as the means of “ascending to heaven” and “becoming an immortal.” Baopuzi's thought mainly covers Taoist doctrine, alchemy, and medicine.
Alchemy was one of Baopuzi's most important contributions. Through long practice in refining elixirs, he developed a distinctive theory and method of his own. He held that by refining elixirs, a person who ingested them could live forever without aging, ascending as a feathered immortal. In the Baopuzi (Inner Chapters) he recorded in detail the formulas, preparation methods, uses, and effects of various elixirs, providing an important reference for the later development of alchemy. His best-known works are the Baopuzi Inner Chapters and the Baopuzi Outer Chapters. The Inner Chapters deal mainly with Taoist doctrine, alchemy, and medicine, while the Outer Chapters treat politics, philosophy, literature, and similar subjects. His writings were valued in his own time and also had a profound influence on later philosophy, culture, and art.
Baopuzi's Discourse on Nurturing Life
Baopuzi said: A person's body is an image of a state. The chest and abdomen are like its palaces; the limbs are like its outlying borders; the bones and joints are like its hundred officials; the spaces between skin and flesh are like its crossroads. The spirit is like the ruler, the blood like the ministers, and qi like the people. Therefore one who can govern people can govern his own body, just as an enlightened ruler can govern his state.
One cherishes the people in order to keep the state secure; one cherishes qi in order to keep the body whole. When the people are exhausted the state perishes; when qi declines the body departs. That is why the perfected person and the superior practitioner administer medicine before illness arises, rather than trying to repair after collapse. Know, then, that life is hard to preserve and easy to scatter, and qi is hard to keep clear and easy to muddy. If one can examine the critical points and weigh them well, one can master cravings and desires and keep nature and life whole.
Now, those who are good at nurturing life first remove the six harms; only then can they extend their years to a hundred. What are they? First, make light of fame and gain; second, forbid music and sensual pleasure; third, be sparing with goods and wealth; fourth, reduce rich flavors; fifth, rid yourself of flattery and falsehood; sixth, cast off resentment and envy. If these six are not removed, the way of cultivation is set up in vain.
For if one has not seen its benefit, then even though one longs in one's heart for the wondrous Tao, recites the true scriptures with one's mouth, savors the essence of flowers, and breathes in the radiance of heavenly phenomena, one cannot make up for the shortness of life. This is truly because one has abandoned the root and forgotten the branches—a thing to be deeply warned against. Therefore, to preserve harmony and keep the true intact, think little, ponder little, laugh little, speak little, rejoice little, anger little, revel little, grieve little, crave little, loathe little, busy yourself little, and scheme little. Much thinking scatters the spirit; much pondering wearies the heart; much laughing turns the organs upside down; much speaking empties and drains the sea of qi; much rejoicing lets pathogenic wind lodge in the bladder; much anger makes blood rush through the pores; much reveling leads the heart and spirit astray; much grieving withers the hair at the temples; much craving makes the will and spirit overflow; much loathing sends the vital energies stampeding; much busyness makes the sinews and vessels dry and tense; much scheming plunges the mind into confusion. These cut down a person's life more than an axe, and damage a person's allotted span more fiercely than wolves and jackals. Do not sit long, do not walk long, do not look long, and do not listen long. Do not force yourself to eat when not hungry, nor to drink when not thirsty. Forcing food when not hungry wearies the spleen; forcing drink when not thirsty bloats the stomach. The body should often work, and the diet should often be small. But work should not go to exhaustion, and eating little should not reach hunger. On winter mornings do not go out on an empty stomach; on summer nights do not eat your fill.
Rise early, but not before the cock crows; rise late, but not after sunrise. When the heart is clear within, the true spirit keeps its place; when qi is settled within, evil things leave the body. Practice deceit and the spirit grieves; engage in strife and the spirit is dejected. Slighting and insulting others shortens your reckoned lifespan; killing and harming living things is sure to cut your years. Do one good deed and the hun spirit rejoices; commit one evil and the po spirit is delighted (the po spirit delights in death; the hun spirit loves life).
If you always dwell in magnanimity and ease and keep yourself calm and content, your body will be at peace and calamity will not trouble you. Your name will surely be written in the register of life, and your faults will surely be struck from the register of death. The principles of nurturing life are all contained here.
As for refining the far-reaching elixir to replenish the brain and transforming liquid gold to retain the spirit, these are the wondrous ways of the high perfected. They are not for those who eat grain and consume blood to overstep their station and cultivate. Among ten thousand people, very few attain them—one should be deeply cautioned.
Lord Lao said: Keep this way of mine. The superior practitioner who cultivates it fully extends his lifespan; the middling practitioner who cultivates it halfway is free of calamity and disease; the lesser practitioner who cultivates it now and then escapes early and violent death. The foolish lose the Tao and cast away their nature. Is this not what it means?