Zhang Yiming
The Treatise on Preserving Life Through Waxing and Waning (Shesheng Xiaoxi Lun), written by Qiu Chuji, leader of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) school during the Jin and Yuan dynasties, draws widely on the ideas about nurturing life (yangsheng) in earlier Taoist and medical classics. Combining the zang-fu organ theory of Chinese medicine with the principles of the generating and overcoming cycles of the Five Phases, it links the changes of the body's organs to the four seasons and the Five Phases, and sets out in concrete terms how to care for the mind through the seasons, how to arrange daily life and diet, how to prevent and treat illness, and what health practices to follow. Concise and highly practical, it suits ordinary people's health cultivation, and it circulated widely after it appeared.
1. The Way of Nurturing Life Through the Four Seasons
The gist of the treatise is easy to guess from its title. “Shesheng” means nurturing life, and “xiaoxi” refers to waxing and waning as time changes. The book is divided into four parts—preserving life through the waxing and waning of spring, of summer, of autumn, and of winter—emphasizing that nurturing life should be adjusted to match the outer changes of spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
The character of spring is “birth and growth.” Qiu Chuji held that at this time “the spring yang is first born, and the myriad things sprout.” In diet one should take care that “rice and wine should not be taken in excess, and dumplings, noodles, and cakes should not be eaten much, for they harm the spleen and stomach and are hard to digest.” The elderly in particular, being aged and frail, “must never eat much on an empty stomach just to please the mouth for a moment, lest something unforeseen happen.” As for daily life, because the weather in early spring swings between cold and warm, Qiu Chuji advised that “one should not abruptly take off one's padded clothes,” especially the elderly, whose “qi is weak, bones brittle, and bodies frail, so that wind and cold easily harm the pores”; clothing therefore “should not be removed suddenly.” Emotionally, too, the keynote should be “birth and growth.” Qiu Chuji especially recommended that on mild spring days one go to high, open places such as gardens and pavilions “to release pent-up feelings and let the life-giving qi flow freely. One should not sit stiffly alone, which breeds melancholy.”
Summer is characterized by “luxuriant flourishing”: yang qi grows abundant, the myriad things flourish, and the season governs growth and nourishment. In diet, Qiu Chuji advised that “even in great heat one should not eat chilled noodles, ice and snow, honey ice, cold jelly, or cold porridge”; otherwise “a full stomach that takes in cold will surely bring on cholera.” One should also “eat few melons, eggplants, and raw vegetables,” since these are all congealing things. In daily life the main thing is to avoid catching a chill: “under the eaves at home, in passageways, in halls open to the street, and by broken windows—in none of these should one seek coolness”; nor should one “sleep in the open under the stars and moon, or have someone fan one to cool off after falling asleep.” Though these places are cool, “the harmful wind strikes a person most violently,” and if one indulges in a moment's pleasure, “the wind enters the pores, and the trouble goes deepest.” As for emotional care, one should “regulate the breath and quiet the heart, always as if there were ice and snow in the heart; then the scorching heat will be somewhat lessened in my heart. One must not treat heat as heat, or even more heat will arise”—which is what people often mean by saying, “A calm heart brings its own coolness.”
The three months of autumn are characterized by “composure and balance,” so nurturing life after the Beginning of Autumn should also follow the principle of “peaceful, balanced care.” Qiu Chuji warned that autumn qi is dry, and “one should eat sesame to moisten the dryness,” but should not eat “dry rice, roasted and grilled foods, beef from animals that died of themselves, raw sliced fish, chicken, pork, cloudy wine, stale and smelly salty vinegar, sticky and slippery foods that are hard to digest, as well as raw vegetables, melons and fruits, pickled fish, and fermented sauces.” In autumn yin qi gradually grows, and one should keep suitably warm, “forbidding cold drinks and cold, damp underclothes.” In daily life one should go to bed early and rise early. Emotionally one should also match the “austere, withering” keynote of autumn, focusing on gathering in—drawing in spirit and body and not letting one's will stray outward.
In the three months of winter, heaven and earth close and store away. In keeping with this, one should focus on “storing,” disturbing the yang qi as little as possible. In diet one should not eat much roasted and grilled food, meat and noodles, wontons, and the like, but may take suitable tonics, such as tonic medicines steeped in wine, or one or two cups of Chinese yam wine, “to welcome the yang qi.” In daily life, “go to bed early and rise late, waiting for the sunlight. Leave the cold and go to the warm, and do not let the pores open.” One should guard against cold every day, and “stay in a snug room, keep clothes and bedding warm, regulate one's food and drink, suit oneself to cold and warmth, and not brave the cold wind.” The elderly especially, because their bones and flesh are thin and brittle, must all the more prevent colds that turn into “coughing and counterflow, numbness, dizziness, and similar ailments.” But when getting warm one should take care not to “roast oneself often before a big fire, which is especially harmful,” nor “warm one's hands over the fire,” to avoid “drawing the fire into the heart and making one irritable.”
2. Nurturing the Organs and Preventing and Treating Organ Diseases
The treatise's approach to nurturing life gives special weight to caring for the internal organs and combines this with Five Phases theory, describing in detail how the organs correspond to the four seasons: the liver flourishes in spring, the heart in summer, the lungs in autumn, and the kidneys in winter. Each part describes the form and position of the organ, discusses its characteristics in that season, and explains how to prevent and treat its diseases, with special emphasis on nurturing through the generating and overcoming relationships of the Five Phases in diet.
The liver belongs to Wood and corresponds to the qi of spring; it likes to flow freely and dislikes being constrained. Spring is not only the peak season for liver disease but also a good opportunity for care. Because Wood overcomes Earth, protecting the spleen-Earth is crucial in spring. Since the flavor of liver-Wood is sour and that of spleen-Earth is sweet, the spring diet “should reduce sour and increase sweet to nurture the spleen qi.” In daily life one should also go to bed at night and rise early to match the season; if one goes against the season, “Metal and Wood overcome each other and all kinds of illness arise.”
The heart corresponds to the qi of summer; heart-Fire flourishes in summer, and the heart governs the spirit. So in summer one should calm the heart and spirit, and “one who wishes to calm the spirit should cherish loyalty and practice filial piety, uphold righteousness and rest in humaneness, quiet the blazing fire, clarify and harmonize the heart and spirit, shut out sounds and sights outwardly, and make light of rich flavors inwardly.” Because Fire overcomes Metal, and the flavor of heart-Fire is bitter while that of lung-Metal is pungent, “in summer the flavors of food should reduce bitter and increase pungent, to nurture the lungs.”
The lungs belong to Metal and correspond to the qi of autumn; lung-Metal flourishes in autumn. Metal overcomes Wood, and the flavor of lung-Metal is pungent while that of liver-Wood is sour, so Qiu Chuji advised that in autumn one's diet should “reduce pungent and increase sour, to nurture the liver qi.”
The kidneys correspond to the qi of winter; kidney-Water flourishes in winter. Water overcomes Fire, so heart-Fire is easily harmed, and in winter “one should therefore nurture the heart.” The flavor of heart-Fire is bitter, so one's diet should suitably increase bitter flavors to tend and nourish the heart qi; one may also take medicines that dissolve phlegm and cool the diaphragm to calm the heart qi.
Each organ has its own domain, and in its corresponding season it is liable to be attacked by pathogens and fall ill. In view of this, Qiu Chuji also gave targeted descriptions of the diagnosis and treatment of each organ's diseases.
Qiu Chuji first described the various symptoms and signs of each organ's diseases, for example: “When the liver is hot, the left cheek is red. When the liver is ill, the eyes lose their brightness and pain below the ribs radiates to the lower abdomen, making one prone to anger. When the liver is deficient, one is fearful, as though someone were about to seize one. When excess, one is angry; when deficient, cold; when cold, the yin qi is strong and one dreams of mountains and forests. When the liver qi runs counter, there are headaches, deafness, and swollen cheeks.” On this basis he introduced the corresponding treatments, generally explained in terms of the generating and overcoming of the Five Phases: for example, “When the liver is ill and wishes to disperse, quickly eat pungent foods to disperse it and use sour to tonify it”; “When the heart is ill and wishes to be moistened, quickly eat salty foods to moisten it, use bitter to tonify it and sweet to drain it”; for lung disease, “use sour to astringe it, pungent to tonify it, and bitter to drain it”; for kidney disease, “when the kidneys are dry, quickly eat pungent foods to moisten them; when the kidneys are ill and hardened, quickly eat salty foods to tonify them and use bitter to drain them”—and many more.
Besides dietary adjustment, Qiu Chuji also gave corresponding prescriptions. For liver disease, for instance, one takes “Cimicifuga Powder” (Shengma San). There were many formulas of this name in ancient times; though their exact ingredients differ—versions appear in the Secret Essentials from the Imperial Library (Waitai Miyao), the Taiping Holy Prescriptions for Universal Relief (Taiping Shenghui Fang), the General Records of Holy Universal Relief (Shengji Zonglu), and others—their chief ingredient is always cimicifuga (shengma), a herb that lifts, vents, clears heat, and detoxifies, and is often used to treat red eyes and blurred vision caused by liver disease.
Likewise, for kidney disease one should take the “Kidney Qi Pill” (Shenqi Wan). This formula appears in medical books such as the Essentials from the Golden Cabinet (Jingui Yaolüe) and the Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold. It is made mainly of cinnamon bark, dried rehmannia root, alisma (water plantain rhizome), and other ingredients, and is chiefly indicated for insufficient kidney qi, worsening emaciation, shallow and short breath, heaviness of the body, deafness, dim eyes, and a hundred ailments. The other two formulas Qiu Chuji gives—the “Five Ginsengs Pill” (Wushen Wan) for heart disease and the “Wind-Expelling Powder” (Paifeng San) for lung disease—also accord with medical principles and can be said to treat the illness at its root.
The treatise also presents various health practices, most of them simple and easy, with very good results. Teeth tapping, for instance, is a traditional health practice carried out in many ways. Qiu Chuji stressed tapping the teeth thirty-six times when lying down at night and at dawn, while calling out different words according to the season: in spring, for instance, one may call the name of the liver spirit, which refreshes the mind and invigorates the qi, and in autumn one should “call the names of the lung spirit and the seven po to calm the five zang organs.” As for taking medicines and special foods, Qiu Chuji urged caution: “If there are no symptoms of illness, there is no need to take medicine.” If one does take them, one must choose selectively according to the specific situation.
For example, elderly people in spring often suffer from spring fatigue, such as “weariness in the four limbs and weakness in the lower back and legs.” Qiu Chuji advised “choosing, from among dietary remedies, formulas that are slightly cool in nature and that aid eating and drinking, and adjusting them for treatment; then all will naturally flow freely.” In winter, because the weather is cold and wine can unblock yang, move qi, and invigorate the blood, he recommended that “one should take medicines steeped in wine, or one or two cups of Chinese yam wine, to welcome the yang qi,” and “on rising early, drink a cup of mellow wine to ward off the cold.”
The treatise draws widely on the wisdom of earlier classics of nurturing life such as the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huangdi Neijing), the Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold, and the Record of Nurturing Life Amid the Mundane World (Hunsu Yisheng Lu), combining them with the practice of health cultivators through the ages and fusing them into a coherent whole; the essence of traditional health cultivation is all contained in it. As the Ming-dynasty scholar Tu Benjun put it: “The main principles of seasonal care, nurturing life, and treating illness are all here! Other works, such as the Lingshu and Suwen, are merely preliminary discussions.”