by Ying-shih Yü
ever, fail to invoke this obvious historical pre ce dent to strengthen their arguments.
79. For a general and comprehensive study of the feng and shan sacrifi ces, see Fukunaga
Mitsuji
, “On the Evolution of Fengshan Theory”
, Tōhō shūkyō 1,
no. 6 (November 1954): 28–57, and 1, no. 7 (February 1955): 45–63.
80. For this Confucian po liti cal interpretation, see Chen Li
, Bohu tong shuzheng
(Huainan: Huainan shuju, 1875), 6.16a–19a; T’an Tjoe Som, trans., Po Hu T’ ung:
The Comprehensive Discussions in the White Tiger Hall (Leiden: Brill, 1949–1952),
1:239–241.
81. SJ, 28.11a, 16a; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:56.
82. SJ, 28.5a; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:23–24.
83. SJ, 87.5b.
84. Cf. Kurihara Tomonobu
, Shin Kan shi no kenkyū
(Tokyo: Yo-
shikawa Kôbunkan, 1961), 35–37.
85. SJ, 28.16a; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:57.
86. Cf. Fukunaga Mitsuchi, “Evolution of Fengshan Theory,” esp. pp. 38–39.
87. Kurihara, Shin Kan shi no kenkyû (29–37), discusses the diff erence between the two
fengshan per for mances.
88. SJ, 28.15a; Watson, Grand Historian, 2:52.
89. SJ, 117.18a.
90. See Xu Zhongshu, “On the Four Bronze Vessels of the Dian Family of Qi”
[in Chinese], ZYYY 3, no. 4 (1934), esp. pp. 499–502; Ding Shan
, “A Glimpse Into
the Tradition of the ‘Five Emperors’ with the Help of the Inscriptions on a Vessel of
Dian”
, ZYYY 3, no. 4 (1934): 517–535. As Ding Shan demonstrates,
the so- called Chen Hou Yinzi is the name of King Wei of Qi (517). Guo Moruo’s identi-
fi cation with King Xuan of Qi is prob ably in error; see Shi pipan shu
, rev. ed.
(Shanghai: Qunyi chubanshe, 1950), 158.
91. SJ, 1.16a.
92. See Xu Zhongshu, “On the Four Bronze Vessels,” 502; Gu Jiegang, Qin Han di fangshi yu
(Shanghai: Shanghai renmin, [1955] 1962), 32.
93. Xu Zhongshu, “On the Four Bronze Vessels,” 502; Guo Moruo, Shi pipan shu, 158.
94. Wen Yiduo, “A Study on Immortals,” 154.
95. SJ, 74.2b; cf. Guo Moruo, Shi pipan shu, 160.
96. Qian Mu, Xian Qin zhuzi xinian, 224–226.
97. Ibid., 376.
98. During the former Han, so- called Huang- Lao Daoism referred primarily to the Daoist
po liti cal philosophy of “nonaction.” Only during the Later Han did Huang- Lao Daoism
gradually acquire religious ele ments, in par tic u lar an interest in xian immortality. On
Huang- Lao during the Han, see Akitsuki Kanei
, “Genealogy of the Huang-
Lao Concept”
[in Japa nese], Tōhōgaku
10 (April 1955): 69–81.
99. Creel, “What Is Taoism?,” 145.
100. SJ, 80.4b (the Grand Historian’s comment).
52 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
101. SJ, 28.11b. For Anqi Sheng, see also Qian Mu, Xian Qin zhuzi xinian, 1:224–226.
102. Wen Yiduo, “A Study on Immortals,” 170–172n12; Chen Pan
, “Some Remarks on
Fangshi (Alchemists) of the Period from Seven Princedoms to the Han Dynasty”
, ZYYY 17 (1948): 26–27.
103. Laozi’s elevation to a xian by the fangshi followed long after the Yellow Emperor’s, prob-
ably early during the Later Han (cf. Akitsuki, “Genealogy,” 71–73). In the “Treatise on
Lit er a ture” in HS, of the ten works classifi ed under the School of Xian Immortals
, four bear the name of the Yellow Emperor, but none is associated with Laozi ( HS,
30.29a; cf. also Akitsuki, “Genealogy,” 73). The name of the Yellow Emperor is also
associated with all the schools or arts in which the fangshi were involved, such as the
Daoist School, the Ying- Yang School, the School of the Five Ele ments
, the art of
astrology, the art of divination, the art of medicine, and the art of sexual techniques (the
last four fall under the categories of shushu
and fangji
). On the other hand,
the name of Laozi is found only in connection with the Daoist School ( HS, 30.2a). This
fact shows that during the Former Han Period, Laozi was still considered a Daoist phi-
los o pher, while the Yellow Emperor had already become the common ancestor of all
kinds of fangshi. The distinction between the Yellow Emperor and Laozi in Han times
made by the Qing scholar Fang Dongshu
(1772–1851) is a useful one. According
to him, although the two were often mentioned together in Han times, the name of
Laozi was used by those who talked of the Way and its Virtue, whereas that of the Yellow
Emperor was used by those who talked about super natu ral and extraordinary things.
See Hanxue shangdui
, Huailu congshu
, 1:4a.
The term fangshi was used loosely during Han times to mean those who practiced
any, more often several, of the arts mentioned above. In this broad sense, the term was
interchangeable with such terms as shushi
, fangshushi
, daoshi
, and
daoren
. See Chen Pan, “Some Remarks on Fangshi,” 7–33; cf. also Tsuda, “Shinsen
shisō,” 263–265. On the terms fangshi and daoshu, see Sakai Tadao
, “Fangshu
and daoshu, Religious and Po liti cal Art in Daoism”
[in Japa nese], Tōyō
shigaku ronshū
1 (1953): 49–59. Therefore, as a general term, fangshi may
be translated as “religious Daoists” or “popu lar Daoists,” since all such arts were later
incorporated in the Daoist religion. Only in specifi c cases depending on context should
the term be translated as “magicians,” “alchemists,” or “immortals.”
104. SJ, 12.2a, 28.11a; HS, 25A.9a.
105. SJ, 12.7a, 28.14b–15a; Édouard Chavannes, Les Mémoires historiques de Se-ma Ts’ ien, 5
vols. (Paris: E. Leroux, 1895–1905), 3:488; HS, 25A.12b. Modern scholars agree that the
legend of the Yellow Emperor’s ascension to Heaven originated during the time of
Han Wudi, not earlier (see, e.g., Ōfuchi, “Shōki no sen- setsu ni tsuite,” 33–36). One pas-
sage in the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi mentions that the Yellow Emperor attained
the Dao and by it ascended to Heaven (see Fung Youlan, Zhuangzi, 118; Legge, The Texts
of Taoism, SBE, 39:244), but this dubious passage is prob ably a later interpolation. See
Qian Mu, Zhuangzi zuanjian
, 3rd ed. (Hong Kong: Dong nan yin wu, [1955]
1957), 52. Citation refers to the 1957 edition.
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 53
106. Thus considered, one is justifi ed in saying that the Daoist idea of a Heavenly world
where xian immortals live is the result of worldly desires pushed to the extreme and is
hence a prolongation of the human world. See Wen Yiduo, “A Study on Immortals,”
162–163; Murakami Yoshimi
, Chūgoku no sennin
(Kyoto: Heirakuji
Shoten, 1956), 76.
107. See biography in SJ, 118.3b–9a.
108. For a more detailed account, see LHJJ, 147; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:335; Ying Shao
,
Fengsu tongyi
, SBCK, 2.15–16a.
109. See Ying Shao, Fengsu
tongyi, 2.16a.
110. Yan Kejun, QHHW, 106.1b–2a.
111.
HS, 30.29a. Later in the third and fourth centuries c.e., xian acquired a still more
worldly character with the advent of a new type, the “earthly immortal”
(see BPZ,
neipian, 2.27). Sometimes the earthly immortal refused to ascend to Heaven because of
a reluctance to give up worldly pleasures, as in the case of a Mr. Puoshi
(see Ge
Hong
, Shenxian zhuan
, 3–4b) . Cf. also Murakami Yoshimi, Chūgoku no
sennin, 76–84, and Tu Erwei, Kunlun wenhua yu busi guannian, 117–122.
112. For instance, the Han etymologist Xu Shen defi nes
as “to live long and leave this
world as xian”
( Shuowen jiezi, 8A). Another Han etymologist, Liu Xi, in his
Shiming (cf. N. C. Bodman, A Linguistic Study of the Shih Ming [Cambridge, Mass.: Har-
vard University Press, 1954], 110, no. 1025) defi nes
as, “to live on to old age and not
die,”
, SBCK, 21a.
113. For instance, in the Lunheng and the Taiping jing,
and
are freely
inter changeable.
114. Fayan
, SBCK, 12.3b–4b; see Fung Yu- lan, History, 1:149; E. von Zach, “Fa Yan,”
Sinologische Beitrage (Batavia) 4, no. 1 (1939): 67–68.
115. See QHHW, 15.7a; cf. also Huanzi xinlun
, SBBY, 17b. Elsewhere, Huan emphati-
cally stated that there was no such thing as “the Way of cultivating xian immortality,”
which was but a fabrication of those who were curious about strange things (
,
, QHHW, 15.5b). According to Zhang Hua
( Buowuzhi
, Shili ju
congshu
, 4.1a), Huan shared this view with Yang Xiong. Huan’s position on
the matter has been the subject of much controversy, but we need to point out here only
that some fragmentary statements attributed to him appear to mean just the con-
trary. E.g.: “Why should the (ancient) sages have died instead of learning to achieve xian
immortality? (The answer is that the sages had become immortals by releasing [them-
selves] from their corpses.) That they are said to have died is just to show the people that
there is an end for them” ( QHHW, 15.5b). Huan also wrote a “Xian fu” in praise of Wang
Qiao and Chi Songzi, in which he says something to the eff ect that cultivation of physi-
cal immortality as described by the fang shih is pos si ble ( QHHW, 12.7b; cf. also Huanzi
xinlun, 15b). He seems, therefore, to have held two confl icting views, and if we take him
to represent one, we must explain away the other.
The Xinlun now exists only in collected fragments, which even if actually by Huan,
may not accurately represent his views. It was his practice to quote fi rst the statements of
54 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
others or popu lar views of his time and then follow these with his own opinions. Those
few statements that seem to represent him as a Daoist immortal may, therefore, be such
quotations and not Huan’s opinions. Moreover, the “Xian fu” was composed in his youth,
when as a courtier under the Emperor Chengdi, he composed the fu on the occasion of the
emperor’s visit to the Jiling Palace
, built by Han Wudi at the foot of Mount Hua in
honor of Wang Qiao and Chi Songzi. A literary piece composed under such circumstances
is prob ably too conventional to be considered a true expression of the author’s views. Even
if we take the “Xian fu” at its face value, however, it is a youthful work, whereas the Xinlun
was written during the early years of the Later Han ( HHS [Shanghai: Shangwu, 1927],
58A.3a) when Huan was about seventy and can therefore be taken to represent his mature
opinion on the subject. For Huan Tan, see a series of impor tant studies by T. Pokora, espe-
cially “The Life of Huan T’an,” Ada Orientalia 31 (1963): 1–79, 521–576. He has discussed
and translated the “Xian fu” in Archiv orientální 28 (1960): 353–367.
116. LHJJ, 145–157; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:332–350.
117. Ying Shao, Fengsu tongyi, 2.I7a.
118. LHJJ, 150; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:339.
119. LHJJ, 155; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:346.
120. LHJJ, 156; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:347.
121. LHJJ, 157; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:348.
122. LHJJ, 29–33, 147; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:325–331, 336. As Forke rightly points out, metamor-
phosis is of a much earlier origin, and he cites (336) the transformation of sparrows into
clams after they dive into the water, an idea mentioned in ancient Chinese works. The
Guoyu (Discourses of the States) rec ords that Zhao Jianzi
envied the metamor-
phoses of lower animals and deplored the fact that man could not achieve bodily trans-
formation (“Jinyu,” WYWK, 178). This reference would seem to indicate that the idea of
human metamorphosis had not come into being during the Spring and Autumn Period
(771–481 b.c.e.); however, the idea of “man with plumage” ( yumin
, yuren
) can
be found in later works such as the Shanhaijing (Classic of Mountains and Seas;
presumably of the Warring States Period), Lüshi chunqiu, and Huainanzi (see Tsuda
Sōkichi, “Shinsen shisō,” 242–246). It is prob ably safe to conclude that the idea of
human metamorphosis grew contemporaneously with the general notion of physical
immortality, for the concept was so fully developed by the Han Period that feathered
immortals were represented in both poetry and painting. See Liu Pansui’s commentary
in LHJJ, 32–33. For such Han depictions, see M. I. Rostovtzev, Inlaid Bronzes of the Han
Dynasty in the Collection of C. T. Loo (Paris and Brussels: G. Vanoest, 1927), plate 12, and
Mizuno Seiichi
, “Super natu ral Motif in the Design of the Han Dynasty in
China”
[in Japa nese], Kōkogaku zasshi
27 (1937–1938):
501–507.
123. See especially the “Daoxu” and “Wuxing” chapters and Forke, Lun Heng, vol. 1, chaps. 27
and 28.
124. E.g., Wang Chong quotes from a work no longer extant that “the fl uid- eaters live long
without dying” ( LHJJ, 156; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:348).
125. LHJJ, 153; Forke, Lun Heng, 1:343.
l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina 55
126. TPJHJ, 222–223.
127. TPJHJ, 596. Tian, or Heaven, is used in this paragraph as well as throughout the Taip-
ingjing in two senses: one referring to the place of ultimate happiness where immortals
take permanent residence (i.e., paradise), the other a personifi ed Heaven or divinity that
governs the entire universe. This confusion of usage represents a popu lar version of
Professor Y. L. Jin’s distinction: “If we mean by Tian both nature and divinity which
presides over nature, with emphasis sometimes on the one and sometimes on the other,
we have something approaching the Chinese term.” Quoted in Fung Yu- lan, A Short
History of Chinese Philosophy (New York: Macmillan, 1948), 192. To show the distinc-
tion, I have capitalized “Heaven” to denote the second meaning of the term.
128. For a study of the Chinese theory of retribution, see Lien- sheng Yang, “The Concept of
Pao as a Basis for Social Relations in China,” in Chinese Thought and Institutions, ed.
John K. Fairbank (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957), 291–309.
129. On the theory of retribution during the Han, see Uchiyama Toshihiko
, “Retribution in Han Thought”
[in Japa
nese], Tokyo
Shinagakuhō 6 (June 1960): 17–32.
130. For biographies, see HHS, 92.
131. HHS, 112B.8a. According to the Taipingjing, the date of ascension is set in advance and
a sort of amulet ( ) must be placed on the breast before ascension, presumably for
identifi cation ( TPJHJ, 608–609; cf. also 532–533 and 710).
132. BPZ, neipian, 5.999. The story is also found in Zhang Hua, Buowuzhi, 7.3a.
133. TPJHJ, 138–139.
134. Ibid., 131–133; cf. also 230.
135. During the Han Period, the cult of immortality involved alchemy. See Henri Maspero,
Le taoïsme (Paris: Gallimard, 1950 [1971], 89–90). Citation refers to the 1950 edition. Ac-
cording to Huan Tan, immortality drugs could be made from transmuted gold (see
QHHW, 15.6b).
136. HS, 36.3b.
137. HS, 25B.10a. Wang Mang is also said to have believed in other ways of achieving im-
mortality, such as selecting virtuous girls for his harem as well as using a par tic u lar
kind of carriage (
) in which the Yellow Emperor was believed to have ascended to
Heaven ( HS, 99B.7a).
138. HS, 99B.10b.
139. HHS, 7.8a and 60B.10b. Cf. also Tang Yongtong, Fojiao shi, 55–57.
140. HHS, 18.4b. In the year 165–166 c.e., the emperor actually sent envoys to Huxian three
times. Only the fi rst and last missions are recorded in HHS, 7; the second was added by
the Qing scholar, Hui Dong
, in his HHSbuzhu
, CSJC, 1.100.
141. There is considerable evidence for Laozi as one of the central fi gures of the immortality
cult in the latter part of the second century c.e. According to the “Inscription on Laozi”
by Bian Shao
(on this authorship, see Erik Zürcher, The Buddhist Conquest of
China [Leiden: Brill, 1959], 2:429–430n31), Daoists of the time distorted the idea of im-
mortality in Laozi and deifi ed its author. See Bian Shao, “Laozi ming,” in QHHW,
62.3a–4a; cf. also Kusuyama Haruki
, “Laozi Ming According to Bian Shao”
56 l ife a nd im m or ta l i t y in t h e mind of h a n c h ina
[in Japa nese], Tōhō shûkyō 11 (October 1956): 49–54. Another