Transmitted by Hua Tuo of the Eastern Han to Wu Pu of Guangling
Part One: The Five Animal Frolics
Lord Lao the Most High (Taishang Laojun) said: “The immortals of old practiced daoyin (guiding and pulling exercises) and could stretch like birds.” Drawing and pulling the skin and body and moving all the joints in order to put off old age—this is called the Five Animal Frolics. Drawing and pulling the hooves and feet serves as daoyin. When the body feels out of sorts, get up and perform one of the animal frolics until you break a sweat, then stop, and the body will feel light and nimble. Wu Pu practiced this and lived to over nine hundred years, with sharp ears and eyes and teeth whole and firm. Guiding and pulling is very easy, yet very few practice it. How sad!
The Tiger Frolic: With all four limbs touching [1] the ground, leap forward three times and back [2] three times; stretch the body out long, rise up [3] forward, rise up backward; look up to the sky and then return to crouching; walk on all fours on the ground, seven times forward and seven times back.
The Bear Frolic: Lie face up, hug the knees from underneath with both hands, and raise the head; slap [4] the ground to the left seven times and to the right seven times; crouch on the ground and push against it with the hands, left and right, seven times each.
The Deer Frolic: With all four limbs touching the ground, stretch the neck and look back over the shoulder, three times to the left and three to the right; stretch out the right foot to the left and the left foot to the right, stretching [5] and drawing in left and right, also three times, then stop.
The Ape Frolic: Grasp something and hang from it, stretching and drawing in the body, up and down seven times; hook the feet over something and hang upside down, seven times to the left and seven to the right; sit, hold the feet with the left and right hands five times, and press each seven times.
The Bird Frolic: Stand up, raise one foot, stretch out both arms, and fan them vigorously, twice seven times each side; sit, stretch out the legs, rise, and pull the toes, seven times each; stretch and draw in both arms seven times each.
As for the method of the Five Animal Frolics, do it according to your strength, and stop when you break a sweat. It lightens the body, digests grain qi, increases strength, and removes a hundred illnesses. Hua Tuo practiced it and lived past ten thousand years. He taught it to his disciple Wu Pu of Guangling, who also attained a long life.
Part Two: Ingesting Qi and Breathing Out the Six Qi
The sound si: si governs the lungs, and the lungs connect to the five zang organs. When they are struck by wind, the nose is blocked and illness arises; sound si and treat it with breathing exercises (tuna).
The sound he: he governs the heart, and the heart connects to the tongue and the five zang organs. When the heart is hot and the tongue dry and illness arises, sound he and treat it with breathing exercises.
The sound hu: hu governs the spleen, and the spleen connects to the lips. The treatise says: when the spleen is warm, the lips become parched and illness arises; sound hu and treat it with breathing exercises.
The sound xu: xu governs the liver, and the liver connects to the eyes. The treatise says: when the liver is overabundant, the eyes turn red and illness arises; sound xu and treat it with breathing exercises.
The sound chui: chui governs the kidneys, and the kidneys connect to the ears. The treatise says: when the kidneys are deficient, the ears become deaf and illness arises; sound chui and treat it with breathing exercises.
The sound xi: xi governs the Triple Burner. When illness arises, sound xi and treat it with breathing exercises.
Part Three: The True Secrets of Nurturing Life
When the superior practitioner cultivates this, he keeps the true intact and extends his life; when the middling practitioner cultivates it, he is free of all calamity and blame; when the lesser practitioner cultivates it, he escapes wrongful and violent death; the foolish make light of it and lose their lives early.
Lord Lao 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 [6] are like its crossroads; the spirit is like the ruler, the blood like the ministers, and qi like the people. One who can govern his body is like an enlightened ruler who 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 is spent the body departs. Therefore the perfected person and the superior practitioner should apply medicine before illness arises, rather than chasing after it once collapse has come. Know, then, that life is hard to preserve and easy to lose, and qi is hard to keep clear and easy to muddy. If one can examine the critical points and weigh them well, one can secure the altars of the state and master cravings and desires—how else can one preserve nature and life?
Now, those who are good at preserving life must first remove the six harms; only then can they preserve nature and life and 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, give up rich flavors; fifth, rid yourself of flattery and falsehood; sixth, cast off jealousy and envy. Remove these six, and the way of cultivating life will be accomplished without fail. If these six are not removed, one will not see its benefit. Even though one's heart longs for the wondrous principle, one's mouth recites the true scriptures, one savors the essence of flowers and breathes in the radiance of heavenly phenomena, one cannot make up for the shortness of life, for one has discarded the root and vainly sought the branches—a thing to be deeply warned against! Therefore, to preserve one's true self, one must think little, ponder little, laugh little, speak little, rejoice little, anger little, revel little, grieve little, crave little, loathe little, busy oneself little, and scheme little. Much thinking harms 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 sets the pores racing and floating; much reveling leads the heart and spirit astray; much grieving withers the hair and beard; much craving topples the will and spirit; much loathing sends the vital energies stampeding; much busyness makes the sinews and vessels dry and tense; much scheming plunges wisdom into confusion. These cut down a person's life more than an axe, and eat away at a person's nature more fiercely than wolves and jackals.
Do not sit long, walk long, look long, or listen long. Do not force yourself to eat: eating when not hungry wearies the spleen. Do not force yourself to drink: drinking when not thirsty bloats the stomach. The body should often work, and one should eat until half full; work should not go to exhaustion, and fullness should not exceed half. In winter, do not go without breakfast in the morning; in summer, do not eat your fill at night. 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 years; killing and harming living things is sure to bring early death. Do one good deed and the hun spirit is pleased; do one evil and the po spirit is delighted. If you always dwell in magnanimity and ease and keep yourself calm and quiet, body and spirit will be at peace; 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 here.
Part Four: Secrets of Qi Ingestion
Lord Lao said: “The gate of the mysterious female [7] is the root of heaven and earth. Continuous, it seems to persist; use it and it is never exhausted.” This refers to the mouth and nose as the gate of heaven and earth, through which one breathes out and takes in the qi of yin and yang, of life and death. Every morning, face east, spread both hands on the knees, and slowly press the two joints; breathe out the turbid qi through the mouth and draw in clear qi through the nose. This is what is called expelling the old and taking in the new; it is gathering the qi. After a good while, breathe it out slowly, and meanwhile push with the hands left and right, up and down, front and back. While taking in the qi, imagine the primordial qi of great harmony descending into the pubic hair line and flowing into the five zang organs and the four limbs, all of which are moistened by it—like a mountain taking in clouds, like the earth receiving rain. When the qi flows through, you will feel a gurgling, turning motion in the abdomen. If you achieve ten passes, you will feel your body moist and glad and your complexion lustrous; your ears and eyes will be sharp, food will taste good, your strength will double, and all illnesses will be gone.
Another method: between midnight and noon, when the qi is living, one may practice it. At other times, when the qi is dead, there is no need to regulate and ingest it. When regulating the qi, the bed should be thick and soft, and the pillow level with the body. Lie flat on your back, stretch out the legs, and hold firm [8], with the fists four or five cun from the body and the feet likewise four or five cun apart. Gently draw in the qi of the great yang through the nose, and with your intention send this qi through the whole body; then hold the breath as long as possible, and afterward breathe it out finely through the mouth, without letting your ears hear the sound of exhalation. If you suffer from chills and fever, miasmic illness, swollen feet, or similar ailments, regulate the qi at once, regardless of the hour. If it does not heal that day, regulate it again the next day; within two or three days it will surely heal.
If you suffer from cold pain in the heart, breathe out with hu; if hot, breathe out with chui. If you suffer from pain in the feet, breathe out with xu. If the lungs hurt, breathe out with yan. After midnight, regulate it twenty-four times; at cockcrow, eighteen; at dawn, twelve; at sunrise, twelve. The more you regulate, the better. Before practicing this method, first do the eighteen postures of daoyin and twenty-four rounds of massage. People rely on daoyin to remove illnesses of the five zang organs.
Heart illness: the body feels cold or hot. Diagnosis: the heart's color is red; in dreams one sees people in red clothing coming with knives, staves, and fire, frightening one. Treatment: use the two breaths hu and chui to remove it. Hu removes cold; chui removes heat.
Lung illness: the chest and back feel distended and full, and the four limbs are restless and oppressed. Diagnosis: the lungs' color is white; one dreams of people in white clothing, men and women becoming intimate, women embracing each other; or of one's parents, siblings, wife, and children. Treatment: remove it with the breath he.
Liver illness: one is worried, sad, and joyless, with headaches and painful eyes. Diagnosis: the liver's color is green-blue; one dreams of people in green-blue clothing holding green-blue knives and staves, or of lions, tigers, and wolves coming to frighten one. Treatment: remove it with the breath xu.
Spleen illness: wandering wind rustles over the body, with oppressed feelings and pain. Diagnosis: the spleen's color is yellow; one dreams of yellow things, or of small children and armpit-high people [9] striking one, or of something like a whirlwind circling around one. Treatment: remove it with the breath xi.
Kidney illness: the body is cold and sexual vigor declines. Diagnosis: the kidneys' color is black; one dreams of people in black clothing coming with knives and staves, frightening one. Treatment: remove it with the breath yan. Each practice is done thirty-six passes [10]. If one practices diligently and still does not recover, one should add daoyin and massage on left and right.
The treatise says: The body is the master of the spirit, and qi is the life of the spirit. Thus body and spirit depend on qi for their existence. So it harmonizes and eases the four limbs and circulates through the six fu organs. If there is any blockage, illness arises at once. Therefore the human body is emptiness and nothingness; what completes it is qi. If the breath is regulated properly, all illnesses disappear of themselves; if breathing is done the wrong way, all kinds of illness arise. Those who are good at preserving life must first know the method of regulating qi. “Breathing gives rise to light, one hopes for longevity and delights in joy”—is this not what it means!
Notes: [1] Ju: to reach, to touch.
[2] Que: interchangeable with jiao, foot. Qian (forward): refers to the hands and arms.
[3] Zha: to raise up, stand erect. Zhi: interchangeable with zhi meaning to throw, i.e., to leap.
[4] Bi: to slap.
[5] Shen: interchangeable with shen meaning to stretch.
[6] Couli: the textures and grain of the skin, flesh, and internal organs.
[7] Xuanpin (the mysterious female): xuan means subtle; pin means female. It says that the Tao is like a subtle mother body that gives birth to the myriad things. The mouth and nose are the gateway of the mysterious female.
[8] Wogu (holding firm): that is, holding firm and guarding the One. The method is to bend the thumb under the four fingers, or to press the thumb against the joint of the middle finger and draw all four fingers into the palm.
[9] Ye: the armpit. “Armpit people” describes people so short that they come up only to someone's armpit.
[10] Tong: that is, times or repetitions. In other chapters, words such as du and guo that indicate numbers of times have a similar meaning.