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Healing & Alternative Health: Chinese medicine
Sex, Drugs, and Taoism:
Notes on Taoist Alchemy & Traditional Chinese Medicine
Part 2 of 2 Parts
by Kevin O'Neil, L.Ac |
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The Way of the Magic Jewel
Ling Bao (Spiritual Treasure or Magic Jewel) Taoism was a simplified version of Inner Alchemy mixed with Buddhism. It developed about the 5th century C.E. and made use of ritual fasting for spiritual purification. One of the most prominent fasting ceremonies (Chai) involved smearing the body with charcoal and after loudly repenting one's sins, rolling around in the dirt.
The Way of Supreme Peace was founded around 175 C.E. by Chang Chueh. It focussed on magical methods of healing including the use of holy water, talismans, and magical incantations which went along with ritual confessions of sins and fasting. This movement gained many followers among the oppressed peasants, and in 184 led to an uprising by 36,000 followers of the Way of Supreme Peace wearing Yellow Turbans. The Yellow Turban Revolution was put down, but continued to wield political influence as the Han Dynasty waned. Memory of the Yellow Turban revolt certainly provides a background to understand the danger the Chinese government feels is presented by the Falun Gong movement and its charismatic leader Li Hong Zhi.
Not all Taoists are into alchemy or the pursuit of immortality. While there are many ways to divide the schools of Taoism, many of which fall short of reality, it is useful to acknowledge the difference between Philosophical Taoism (Tao Jia) and Religious Taoism (Tao Jiao). Philosophical Taoism is more strictly based upon the philosophical pondering of the texts of Lao Zi (the Tao Te Ching) and Zhuang Zi (Chuang Tzu). Philosophical Taoists worked to accept their own impermanence as a part of the cycles of nature. Religious Taoists sought to create supernatural longevity and gain magical powers of control through rituals, chanting, and drugs. Religious Taoism also competed with Buddhism to convert the peasants and gain political influence. The alchemists of religious Taoism were seeking physical immortality, spiritual immortality, and the production of what we tend to call "altered states of consciousness" through drugs, fasting, and meditation. It is the alchemy of religious Taoism which led to the varied traditions of Tao Yin (physical exercises), Internal Alchemy (visualization of deities and colored lights in the body), External Alchemy (herbs, drugs, and minerals consumed for spiritual experiences and immortality), sexual practices, and strict diets (including abstaining from grain, the basic Taoist magical diet).
Tao Hong Jing (T'ao Hung-Ching) is another important figure in the history of Taoist alchemy and medicine. He lived from 452-536 C.E., Tao Hong Jing was a great classifier. He was the first to classify the Taoist deities in a hierarchy reminiscent of Confucian government bureaucracy. He visited all of the Taoist mountains searching for herbs of longevity and immortality. In doing so, he systematically classified medicinal herbs and is remembered as the first pharmacologist. He organized fragments from many sources into the Shen Nung Ben Cao (The Divine Farmer's Materia Medica) of 365 herbs and added 365 more herbs to his commentary, the Shen Nung Ben Cao Gang Mu. He is credited with classifying medicinal substances by types (plants, minerals, fungi, etc.) and medicinal use (the categories of Chinese herbs which are still used today), as well as revising measuring units, writing about mercury amalgams, and identification of some minerals by the color of flame when they burn. Tao Hong Jing was a follower of Ko Hung.
Ko Hung (Ge Hong) wrote the Nei Pien, one of the greatest early treatises on alchemy in the world. This book, written in the 4th century C.E., contains the first mention of distilled alcohol: "...they are like wine that has been fermented once; it cannot be compared with the pure, clear wine that has been [cyclically transformed] nine times." (Ware, p. 72) Ko Hung shows how a little bit of knowledge can lead to dangerous assumptions in his approach to cinnabar. "It is a fact, however, that the least of the minor cinnabars is far superior to the best of herbs. When roasted, all herbs turn to ashes, but cinnabar produces mercury, which after a number of successive transformations reverts to cinnabar. It is far superior to herbs. That is the reason it can produce Fullness of Life in people... Knowing little, ordinary people marvel much. Some of them do not know that mercury is a derivative of cinnabar. When we tell them about it, they will not believe it. They reply that since cinnabar is basically a red substance, how could it ever become a white substance like mercury!" Could Ko Hung be here today to see how plastic resists decay and rust, he would surely eat it and proclaim it a fabulous medicine to promote long life.
Ko Hung also acknowledged the use of breathing exercises and semen retention to lengthen life, but emphasized the central importance of eating cinnabar: "The taking of medicines may be the first requirement for enjoying Fullness of Life, but the concomitant practice of breath circulation greatly enhances speedy attainment of the goal. Even if medicines are not attainable and only breath circulation is practiced, a few hundred years will be attained provided the scheme is carried out fully, but one must also know the art of sexual intercourse to achieve such extra years. If ignorance of the sexual art causes frequent losses of sperm to occur, it will be difficult to have sufficient energy to circulate the breaths." (Ware, p. 105)
Ko Hung was an important early author, and did collect much information on herbal medicines and religious practices. His book, the Nei Pien, also includes many descriptions of demons, gods, and ghosts. With his strong emphasis on consuming mercury in the form of cinnabar and other "elixirs," we may understand his insistence upon the existence of ghosts and demons as signs of mercury poisoning. The Environmental Protection Agency has this definition of the symptoms of long-term mercury exposure: "People with chronic mercury poisoning often also have wide swings of mood, becoming irritable, frightened, depressed or excited very quickly for no apparent reason. Such people may become
extremely upset at any criticism, lose all self-confidence, and become apathetic. Hallucinations, memory loss and inability to concentrate can occur." (http://www.epa.gov/seahome/mercury/src/chronic.htm) Hearing voices, paranoid thoughts, and "seeing things" are all also described in the literature of mercury poisoning. Ko Hung exhibited many of these characteristics, including a great distrust of "unbelievers" and a paranoid belief in the need for strict ritual purification before eating more mercury. Ko Hung's writings are still very valuable documents from their time, and it is particularly impressive that he was such a prolific writer given the toxic load he must have had from working with and consuming mercury, arsenic, lead, etc.
Not devoid of humor, Ko Hung addresses the carb-free diet of 400 C.E.: "I should like to inquire whether a man can attain [immortality] by merely dispensing with starches...?Ko: By dispensing with starches a man can only stop spending money on grains..." (Ware, p. 243)
So here we are in 2004. I thought that I would be writing a positive, celebratory column on the history of Taoist Alchemy and Chinese Medicine. But no, once again I have slipped into a skeptical analysis of historical mystical traditions based upon science and common sense. It is the dedication and experimental attitude which inspire me in my study of the natural causes and cures of disease. I don’t feel a need to over-glorify the past. There are many historical secret remedies that were lost due to natural selection. They can stay that way. The sensible, common, and well-established herbs, acupuncture techniques, and nutritional systems are a great gift. There’s no need to completely avoid grains, seek out alchemical preparations, or practice sexual vampirism in order to be healthy and happy. The simple way of accepting and flowing with the changes of nature—which includes good days and bad days, youth and old age, and eventually death—can lead to a deeper contentment, wisdom, and happiness than those methods. |
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Kevin O'Neil,
Licensed Practitioner of Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine
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Kevin O'Neil, Licensed Acupuncturist, began his Chinese Medicine training in Chinatown, Victoria, B.C. at the International College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, with Henry Lu, Ph.D. .
After one year, Kevin transferred to the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine in Portland, where he spent 3 years completing his Master's Degree of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.
Upon graduation, Kevin went to China and interned in the HeiLongJiang Chinese Medicine University Hospital, before moving to Tainan, Taiwan to continue his studies of Chinese Medicine, language, and culture.
Upon 'repatriation,' he chose to embrace the Taoist tradition of living in the mountains where the pace of life is more relaxed and the air is clean and clear. Finding Klamath Falls, Oregon to suit these characteristics, Kevin opened his clinic there in Spring, 1999.
Ancient Way Acupuncture & Herbs, Inc.
Medical/Dental Building
905 Main St #409
Klamath Falls, OR 97601
541-884-6377
www.ancientway.com |
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