Sixth Century BCE to Seventeenth Century
Page 12
pre- Tang (see Xiong Deji, “Authorship and Doctrines of the Taipingjing,” 8n2, and Yosh-
ioka Yoshitoyo
, “On the Dunhuang Copy of Taipingjing”
[in Japa nese], Tōyō bunka kenkyūjo kiyō
22 [1961]: 1–103).
18.
See, e.g., TPJHJ, 113–220; 207–208; 392. The Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu
and his followers must have popu lar ized this idea widely during the Han Period. In one
place, the Chunqiu fanlu
(Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals)
states: “It is Heaven that produces (life), Earth that nourishes, and man that accom-
plishes” (
,
,
), WYWK, 6.93. Cf. also the translation in William
Theodore de Bary, Wing- tsit Chan, and Burton Watson, Sources of Chinese Tradition
(New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), 178. For Dong Zhongshu’s development
of Han Confucianism, see Yang Xianggui
, Xi- Han jingxue yu zhengzhi
(Chongqing: Duli chubanshe, 1945), esp. pp. 64–78; Zhou Fucheng
, Lun
Dong Zhongshu sixiang
(Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, 1961). Here the
addition of man to form a trinity with Heaven and Earth is particularly characteristic of
Han Confucianism. Cf. de Bary, Chan, and Watson, Sources, 222–223. It is against this
teleological theory of life that Wang Chong launched his attack in Lunheng. See espe-
cially Liu Pansui
, LHJJ (Beijing: Guji, 1957), 365–371; En glish translation by
Alfred Forke, Lun Heng (Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1907), 1:92–102.
19.
TPJHJ, 218–219.
20. The two impor tant studies on this work are Rao Zongyi
, Laozi Xiang-er zhu jiao-
jian
(hereafter Xiang-er Commentary) (Hong Kong: Dongnan shuju, 1956;
Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1991), in which the whole text of the manuscript is collated and
punctuated, and
, “On the Historical and Religious Signifi cance of the Tun- huang
Manuscript of Laozi, book 1, with Commentaries by ‘Xiang-er’ ”
[in Chinese], Guoxue xuebao
, n.s., 1, no. 2 (April 1957): 41–62.
21.
Xiang-er Commentary, 35. For a discussion of the importance of the idea of life in this
work, see Rao’s note on p. 68.
22. Ibid., 22, 35. Cf. the original text in Laozi, 16.9a, 25.14ab; Duyvendak, Tao Te Ching, 49–50,
where wang is rendered “ great,” and p. 65.
23. TPJHJ, 658.
24. TPJHJ, 701. Wang Ming punctuates this passage wrongly as
,
,
,
,
,
, which is obviously self- contradictory as
far as the nature and function of
is concerned. The correct reading is
;
,
;
,
.
25. Xiang-er commentary, 10.
26. TPJHJ, 36.
27. TPJHJ, 37; cf. also 221.
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 47
28. See Xu Zhongshu
, “Jinwen guci shili”
, ZYYY 4 (1936), esp. pp. 15–18.
Cf. also H. G. Creel, The Birth of China (New York: F. Ungar, 1937), 333; Hiraoka Teikichi
, “On the Making of the Idea of Qi”
[in Japa nese], Shi-
nagaku kenkyû
13 (September 1955): 34–35.
29. Guo Moruo, “Zhouyi zhong zhi chuantong sixiang kao”
, in Jinwen
congkao
, rev. ed. (Beijing: Renmin, 1954), 8a.
30. See, e.g., H. G. Creel, “What Is Taoism?,” JAOS 76 (1956): 147.
31. Xu Zhongshu, “Terms and Forms of the Prayers,” 25.
32. For the term
, see ibid., 26.
33. For the term
or
, see Sun Yirang
, Mozi jiangu
, WYWK, 113,
and Sun’s commentary.
34. For the term “unit- ideas,” see Arthur O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1936), 3–6; cf. also his Essays in the History of Ideas
(New York: George Braziller, [1948] 1955), 8–10. A criticism of Lovejoy’s “unit- ideas” ap-
proach may be found in René Wellek and Austin Warren, Theory of Lit er a ture (New
York: Harcourt, Brace, 1956), esp. pp. 99–101.
35. Xu Zhongshu, “Terms and Forms of the Prayers,” 24–25.
36. For instance, Xu Zhongshu insists that the idea of physical immortality was brought
into China by the northern Di
people at the beginning of the Eastern Zhou Period
(771–256 b.c.e.). Ibid., 43. Wen Yiduo
is of the opinion that immortality in the
sense of “no death” was imported to China by the Qiang
people from the west. See
his “Shenxian kao” (A Study on Immortals)
, in Shenhua yu shi
(Beijing:
Guji, 1956), esp. pp. 154–157. However, both authors fail to produce evidence strong
enough to substantiate their theories. I rather agree with Tsuda Sōkichi, who says that
the transition from the idea of longevity to that of immortality in the sense of “no death”
is a natu ral one. See his “Shinsen shisō ni kansuru ni- san no kosatsu”
(hereafter “Shinsen shisō”), in Man- Sen chiri rekishi kenkyū hōkoku
10 (1924): 235, an article that is still the most comprehensive study on
the Chinese idea of immortality.
37. E.g., Tsuda Sōkichi interprets the development of the immortality cult mainly in terms
of the traditional desire for longevity and “no death” (see “Shinsen shisō,” esp. pp. 235–
237). This view is shared by Xu Dishan, Daojiao shi, 139–140. Takeuchi Yoshio
,
following a suggestion made by Gu Yanwu
in his Tianxia qunguo libing shu
, SBCK, 18:36ab, advanced the theory that the cult originated in the imagina-
tion of the coastal people of Qi and Yan (Shantung and Hebei) stimulated by views of
mirages. See his Shinsen setsu
(Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten, 1935), 5–8. The theory
was accepted by Uchida Tomō
, “Dōkyō shi”
, in Shina shukyō shi
, Shina chiri rekishi taikei
, vol. 11 (Tokyo: Hakuyôsha, 1942), esp.
pp. 237–238, and further elaborated by Ōfuchi Ninji in “Shoki no sen- setsu ni tsuite”
, Tōhō shūkyō
1, no. 2 (September 1952), esp. p. 25. Among
the many Chinese historians who favor this theory, see, e.g., Lü Simian
, Xian
Qin shi
(Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1941), 463–464, and Qian Mu
, Guoshi
dagang
(Shanghai: Guoli bianyiguan and Shangwu, 1947), 1:254.
48 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
38. Chen Yinke doubts importation by the sea route (see his “Tianshidao yu binhai diyu zhi
guanxi”
), ZYYY 3, no. 4 (1934): 439–440. For a recent criti-
cism of Chen’s theory, see Yang Xiangkui, Zhongguo gudai shehui yu gudai sixiang
yanjiu
(Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1962), 1:477–478. Wen
Yiduo, while admitting that the cult of immortality was related both to the earlier idea
of “no death” and to the geography of the coastal state of Qi, advances a theory that the
/> concept of xian derived from the practice of cremation by the Qiang people of the west,
who migrated to Qi. See his “A Study on Immortals,” 153–180.
39. Gu Yanwu is prob ably the earliest scholar to point out that the idea of the xian does not
antedate the late Zhou (i.e., Warring States, 481–221 b.c.e.) Period (see his Rizhi lu
[1869 edition], 30:28a). Since most scholars agree on this point, it requires no further
discussion.
40. ZZ, Duke Chao, 20; Legge, The Chinese Classics, 5:684.
41.
Wang Xianshen
, Hanfeizi jijie, “Shuo- lin,” shang, WYWK, 2.48. Cf. also
Zhanguoce, Chu 4, WYWK, 2.38. For complete translation of the Zhanguoce, see J. I.
Crump, trans., Intrigues: Studies of the Chan- kuo ts’ e (Ann Arbor: University of Mich-
igan Press, 1964).
42. Hanfeizi jijie, “Waichu,” 3.22.
43. For dates of these kings, I have followed the chronological tables in Qian Mu, Xian Qin
zhuzi xinian
, rev. ed. (Hong Kong: HKU Press, 1956), 2:548–566.
44. SJ, Zhonghua, 28.6a; Burton Watson, Rec ords of the Grand Historian of China (New
York: Columbia University Press, 1961), 2:26.
45. Shanhaijing, SBCK, 2:37b; Huainanzi, 4.111b.
46. Shanhaijing, SBCK, 2:69a. There are also other terms such as
; see “Yuanyou”
in Dai Zhen
, Qu Yuan fu zhu
(Shanghai: GXJBCS, [1933] 1968), 52,
and LSCQ JS, 22.13a, and
in Huainanzi, 5.23a.
47. Shanhaijing, 2:84b.
48. Ibid., 2:54a. According to Huainanzi, 4.7b, there was also a “no- death grass.”
49. Huainanzi, 4.3b.
50. See, e.g., Xu Dishan, Daojiao shi, 140; Holmes Welch, The Parting of the Way: Lao Tzu
and the Taoist Movement (Boston: Beacon Press, 1957), 89. Creel’s “What Is Taoism?”
(145) dates the rise of what he calls the “cult of immortality” to around 300 b.c.e.
51. Chuang- tzu, trans. Feng Youlan (Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1989), 36–37. Cita-
tion refers to the 1933 edition. Cf. Legge, The Texts of Taoism, SBE, 39:170–171, and the
discussion of this passage in Tsuda Sōkichi, “Shinsen shisō,” 248–250.
52. For the text, see Qu Yuan fu zhu, 5:40–54. For a discussion of the “Yuanyou” as a poem
of early Han times, see James R. High tower, “Ch’ü Yüan Studies,” Silver Jubilee Volume
of the Zinbun- Kagaku- Kenkyusyo (Kyoto: Kyoto University, 1954), 196–200; David
Hawkes, Ch’ u Tz’ u: The Songs of the South (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959), 81. Cf. also
Tsuda, “Shinsen shisō,” 220–222.
53. Wen Yiduo, “A Study on Immortals,” 161.
54. Cf. High tower, “Ch’ü Yüan Studies,” 199; Hawkes, Ch’ u Tzu, 81; Wen Yiduo, “A Study
on Immortals,” 161–162.
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 49
55.
Zhanguoce, Qin, 3, 1.48.
56. SJ, 55.6b.
57.
Huainanzi, 20.9a.
58. Quan Han wen
, in Quan Shanggu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen
, ed. Yan Kejun
(Beijing: Zhonghua, 1958 [reprint]), 42.10b.
59. Lu Jia
, Xinyu
, SBBY, 2.11a. This work has not received the detailed study of
other Han writings; for a general discussion, see Hu Shi,
in Zhang Ju-
sheng xiansheng qishi shengri jinian lunwenji
(Shanghai:
Shangwu, 1937), 83–94.
60. SJ, 6.9ab.
61. Ibid., 28.6a; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:25–26.
62. Yan tie lun, GXJB, 59. This passage is not translated in Esson M. Gale’s Discourses on
Salt and Iron (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1931).
63. SJ, 6.12b.
64. Ibid., 6.15a.
65. Ibid., 6.12b–13a.
66. Ibid., 28.13b; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:47–48. Cf. also SJ, 12.5b, 9a.
67. For more details concerning fangshi, see SJ, 28; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:13–69.
68. HS (Shanghai: Shangwu, 1927), 25B.7a; Quan Han wen, 46.7ab.
69. HS, 25B.6a. According to Qian Mu, during the time of Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi,
the most con ve nient and impor tant method of achieving immortality was sacrifi cial
off erings to gods or xian rather than consumption of drugs or other devices. See his
“Zhouguan zhuzuo shidai kao”
, in Liang Han jingxue jin gu wen pingyi
(Hong Kong: Xinya yanjiusuo, 1958), 433. This theory has been ac-
cepted by Tang Yongtong
in his Han Wei Liang- Jin Nanbeichao Fojiao shi
(Beijing: Zhonghua, 1955 [reprint]), 1:52–53.
70. On the Western Queen Mother and Mount Kunlun, see Kume Kunitake
, “Kon-
ron Seiôbo kô”
, Shigaku zasshi
4 (1893): 197–214, 288–302;
Nomura Gakuyō
, “Bunken jô yori mitaru Konron shisô no hattatsu”
, Shigaku zasshi 29 (1918): 458–494, 583–601; Nakayama Heijirô
, “Shina ko shômei no Seiôbo ni tsuite”
, Kōkogaku
zasshi
11 (1921): 324–332. Recently, Du Erwei
, in a suggestive but rather
one- sided study, Kunlun wenhua yu busi guannian
(Taipei: Xuesheng,
1962), tries to relate the xian immortality of Mount Kunlun to the moon myth by drawing
parallels from other primitive cultures. Another new interpretation, advanced by Su Xuelin
in Kunlun zhi mi
(Taipei: Zhongyang wenwu gongyinshe, 1956), appar-
ently derives the name of the mountain, as a residence for immortals, from Khursag
Kurkura, the mythical mountain in ancient Babylonian tradition. Since I have not been
able to consult this work, I have had to depend on the paraphrase given by Du Erwei (50).
71. Shiratori Kurakichi
, Saiiki- shi kenkyū
(Tokyo: Iwanami, 1944), 2:
328–331.
72. HS, 22.10b; cf. also Zhang Weihua
,
“The Infl uence of
the Thought of the Magicians Upon the Conquest of Dawan During the Reign of Han
50 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
Wudi” [in Chinese], Zhongguo wenhua yanjiu huikan
3 (1943), esp.
pp. 6–7.
73. See Lü Simian, Qin Han shi
(Shanghai: Shanghai guji, 1947), 1:120; Qian Mu,
Qin Han shi (Hong Kong: Xin hua, 1957), 133; Ise Sentaro
, Saiiki keiei- shi no
kenkyū
(Tokyo: Nihon Gakujutsu Shinkôkai, 1955), 81; Hatani Ryōtai
, Xiyu zhi Fojiao
, Chinese translation by He Changqun
(Shanghai: Shangwu, 1956), 33.
74. Ise Sentaro, Saiiki keiei- shi no kenkyū, 82; Shiratori Kurakichi, Saiiki- shi kenkyū, 2:330.
75. See Zhang Weihua, “The Infl uence of the Thought of the Magicians,” 1–12. A similar
view is found in Arthur Waley, “The Heavenly Horses of Ferghana: A New View,” History
Today 5, no. 2 (February 1955): 95–103. See also the defense of the traditional interpreta-
tion by Yu Jiaxi in Yu Jiaxi lunxue zazhu
(Beijing: Zhonghua, [1963]
1977), 1:175–180.
76. SJ, 28.11a; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:39; HS, 25A.8b–9a.
77. SJ, 28.17b; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:63. Watson reads
as “the power of Yüeh
had declined,” but I believe “the p
opulation became weakened and exhausted” suits the
context better; HS, 25B.1a.
78. The prob lem of the Longevity Hall needs some elucidation. According to SJ, 28.17b,
only one hall, named Yiyanshou guan
, was built at Ganquan. HS, 25B.1a,
gives the name Yishou Yiyanshou guan
, which the Tang commentator Yan
Shigu
interprets as two names for two separate halls. Yan’s interpretation has
been generally accepted (see Burton Watson on “Long Life and Increased Life Towers,”
Rec ords of the Grand Historian, 2:63), but it was challenged as early as Song times by
Huang Buosi
, who convincingly argued on the basis of Han tiles bearing the
name Yiyan shou, which had been unearthed in the locality of the hall, that Yan was
wrong in taking it as two buildings and that the name given in SJ was correct. (See
Dongguan yulun
, Shaowu xushi congshu edition
, 2:43b–44a.) In
recent times, more such Han tiles, and even large Han bricks bearing the name Yiyan-
shou presumably used in building the hall, have come to light. See Chen Zhi
,
Hanshu xinzheng
(Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe, 1959, 119). Archaeo-
logical evidence, therefore, tends to support Huang’s theory rather than Yan’s. It may
not be out of place to add here that the construction of the Longevity Hall by Han
Wudi had considerable infl uence in shaping the pattern of imperial court life in later
periods. For instance, during the Tang, the well- known Changsheng dian
, or
Changsheng yuan
, which may also be rendered as “Longevity Hall,” was built in
vari ous palaces both at Chang-an and Loyang. I agree with Zhou Yi- liang, “Tantrism in
China,” HJAS 8 (1945): 310–311, and Chen Yinke, Yuan- Bo shi jianzheng gao
(Beijing: Wenxue guji kanxing she, 1955), 37–40, that halls bearing this name during
Tang times were used primarily for religious purposes rather than as living quarters.
Evidence tends to show that in most cases, Tang emperors (including the Empress Wu)
stayed in the Longevity Hall only to off er sacrifi ces to Daoist gods, and the hall is often
described by Tang writers as a place where deities (or rather, xian immortals) would
descend (Zhou, “Tantrism in China,” 311). It seems to follow, then, that the Longevity
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 51
Hall in Tang times must have been associated with the imperial quest for immortality
or longevity, modeled closely on that of the Han dynasty. Both Zhou and Chen, how-