Ge Hong: a medical scientist integrating Confucianism and Taoism
2022-03-23
There is an interesting title in Chinese traditional medicine - Xinglin. The doctors are skillful and are called "the master of Xinglin". The doctors are kind-hearted and are called "spring warmth in Xinglin". People in the field of traditional Chinese medicine are proud of "people in Xinglin". Xinglin culture has been inherited and carried forward for nearly two thousand years since it originated in the Jin Dynasty. Its founder is Ge Hong, a famous Jin Dynasty medical scientist. Ge Hong was born in a famous family in the south of the Yangtze River. Both his grandfather and father once held important official positions in Soochow. He has been diligent and studious since childhood. When he was young, he believed in the doctrine of immortality and learned Taoism by worshiping famous teachers. Ge Hong has a light temperament and few desires. "He is not concerned about Fei, and he is not happy about his reputation". Therefore, he named baopuzi and got the meaning of "seeing simplicity and embracing simplicity" in the Tao Te Ching. He served as a general and lieutenant during the period of Tai'an (302-303). He made military contributions when calming the peasant uprising. He was only 21 years old. Ge Hong didn't love fame. He devoted his time and energy to extensive reading, intensive study of Taoist and Confucian theories and medicine, practice of alchemy, and wrote rich works in medicine, astronomy and military art of war. The allusion of "Xinglin" comes from Ge Hong's book "immortal biography". The biography of immortals collects the anecdotes of 84 immortals collected by Ge Hong. One of them, Dong Feng, tells the magical story of Dong Feng, a Fujian Taoist doctor, who came back from the dead: Du Xie, the governor of Jiaozhou, had been poisoned and died for three days. Dong Feng came from other places, put three pills into the dead's mouth, and asked people to lift the dead's head and shake it for digestion. As a result, Du Xie could sit up in half a day and speak in four days. Dong Feng not only has excellent medical skills, but also does not charge money or goods for treating diseases. He only allows five apricot trees to be planted after serious patients are cured, and one for mild patients. A few years later, more than 100000 apricot trees became lush and luxuriant. If you want to buy apricots when they are ripe, you just need to exchange a scoop of millet for a scoop of apricots. Dong Feng used rice to help the poor people and those in need, which was a good story for a while. Thus, "Xinglin" has become synonymous with traditional Chinese medicine, "Xinglin spring warmth" has become a praise for noble medical ethics. Ge Hong also used the story of "tiger guarding apricot forest" to build a just and fair moral society. There is also a well-known story in the biography of immortals - "hanging pot to help the world", which tells the excellent medical skills of Fei Changfang, a medical practitioner, in treating patients and saving people. The story was published in the later Han Dynasty · biographies of prescriptions during the Liu and Song dynasties of the Southern Dynasty, and spread more and more widely. Until today, gourds are still hung at the door of some pharmacies, and a plaque of "hanging pots to help the world" is hung in some hospitals, symbolizing the benevolence of doctors who use medical skills to save all living beings. During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, when Ge Hong lived, there was a popular trend of talking about immortality and Taoism in society. People were very keen on whether immortality could be obtained, whether immortality could be learned and how to become immortality. Ruan Ji, Ji Kang, Xiang Xiu, famous scholars he Yan and Guo Xiang were all representative figures at that time. Ge Hong believes that mortals can live forever by learning from immortals and cultivating Taoism, which puts forward a strong challenge to fatalism. He firmly believes that "my life is in my absence" (inner chapter of baopuzi), that is, a person's destiny is in his own hands without external demands. This belief affirms the value of earthly life and contains a strong spirit of life autonomy and the thought of brave life transcendence. It is one of the important doctrines of Taoism. It shows the unique temperament of Taoism different from other religions, so it has strong vitality. Adhering to the idea of noble rebirth and humanitarianism, Ge Hong actively explored various methods of health preservation and life extension, and engaged in practical activities of alchemy and medical research. "My life is in my absence, and I will return the pill to a golden million years.". Ge Hong believes that the most important thing for immortality is the golden elixir. The golden elixir is different from the herb medicine. The latter can eliminate diseases, but can not eliminate external disasters. Only taking the golden elixir can keep all evil spirits away from the body and live forever. This shows that Ge Hong's Dan Ding Taoism gives consideration to both inside and outside, cultivates "form and spirit" internally, so as to prolong life and cure disease ", and exterminates" evil, so as to avoid disasters ". Among the pills he refined, "return the golden liquid to the pill" is the top grade. Ge Hong linked "gold can be used" with "the world can be used". He believed that the gold ware has the characteristics that it cannot be refined and will not decay. If you take the gold pill, you will infect the human body with the immortal nature of gold, that is, "those who take gold will live as long as gold and those who take jade will live as long as jade". This is a reflection of the Chinese people's simple concept of what to eat and what to make up. It is a way for the ancients to understand objective things, that is, the so-called analogical thinking. In order to pursue immortality, it was a common practice to take pills in aristocratic society at that time. Calligrapher Wang Xizhi, Huang Fumi, the ancestor of acupuncture and moxibustion, Gao Yang, the ancestor of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and many famous scholars are followers of Taoism who take pills for health and longevity. With the prosperity of modern science and technology, it is impossible to burn the elixir of immortality from the perspective of modern people, but the process of refining elixir contains rich chemical significance. In this process, Ge Hong found the reversibility of chemical reaction. For example, mercury can be refined by heating dansha (i.e. mercuric sulfide), and the combination of mercury and sulfur can turn into dansha. He recorded in "baopuzi neipian · golden elixir": "when the cinnabar is burned into mercury, the accumulation becomes cinnabar again." Ge Hong also noticed the crystallization of orpiment (arsenic trisulfide) and realgar (arsenic pentasulfide) after heating. Alchemy also promoted the invention and application of gunpowder. Objectively speaking, alchemy has accumulated people's understanding experience of the natural material world and enriched chemical knowledge. It can be said that alchemy is the pioneer of modern experimental chemistry. Ge Hong systematically summarized the achievements of alchemy before Jin Dynasty, introduced the ancient alchemy classics and methods, and recorded some alchemy methods, ingredients and processes, which provided people with precious data of original experimental chemistry. Dufu also had the poem "he was ashamed of Ge Hong" (giving Li Bai) without the dansha. Although the golden elixir is a recipe for immortality, it is expensive to refine, which can only be deterred by ordinary people, and the golden elixir can not be completed quickly. Therefore, Ge Hong also advocates some practical Taoist techniques and health preservation methods, such as guidance, qi circulation, essence treasure, moderate diet, mood control, clear heart and few desires, so as to help people eliminate disasters and avoid harm, increase life and prolong life. Among them, guidance is to imitate the actions of cranes, turtles, tigers, snakes and other animals to move and regulate people's muscles and bones. Hua Tuo's "five birds play" is a set of health preservation and fitness skills created by observing the moving posture of animals and animals and imitating the images and actions of tigers, deer, bears, apes, birds and other animals according to the guidance of the ancients. Ge Hong's efforts and achievements in medicine are eye-catching. Since ancient times, there has been a saying of "ten Taoism and nine medicine". Taoism has a deep origin with medicine. The so-called "anyone who studies immortals should know medicine". Tao Hongjing, Zhang Zhongjing, Hua Tuo, Sun Simiao, Zhang boduan, Li Shizhen and others are both Taoists and doctors. Ge Hong, who is proficient in medicine and pharmacology, believes that practitioners should also cultivate medical skills, otherwise once they are ill, they will not be able to treat, not only can they not grow into immortals, but even worry about their lives. Ge Hong traveled all over the north and south of the Yangtze River, between Xu, Henan, Jing, Xiang, Jiang and Guangzhou. Wherever he went, he deeply explored the origin, morphological characteristics, growth habits, medicinal parts and therapeutic effects of medicinal plants in various places, and made detailed records and explanations. Some of these drugs, such as medlar, chrysanthemum and poria cocos, are still commonly used health care drugs. The drug knowledge he recorded can still be used for reference today. Ge Hong also pointed out that the problem of more than one medicine and more than one medicine should be paid attention to in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, otherwise it will be a thousand miles away. Joseph Needham, a famous British scholar, praised Ge Hong as "the greatest naturalist in Taoism" (Needham's history of Chinese science and Technology), which is indeed a pertinent evaluation. Ge Hong's research achievements in medicine and pharmacology are mainly preserved in baopuzi neipian and elbow reserve emergency prescription. Among them, "elbow backup emergency prescription" is the first clinical first aid manual in China. It collects a large number of prescriptions and brief moxibustion methods for first aid and medical treatment. Many tested prescriptions are effective and very practical. As the title of the book indicates, it is a book that should be placed behind the elbow (i.e. with you) for emergency use. In 2015, Tu Youyou, a Chinese pharmacist, became the first winner of the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine in China with her outstanding contribution to the creation of new antimalarial drugs, namely artemisinin and dihydroartemisinin. The development of a new drug benefiting hundreds of millions of people around the world was inspired by the "emergency prescription". Ge Hong wrote in his book "prescription for curing cold, heat and malaria": "when you hold Artemisia annua, you can take two liters of water, twist the juice and take it." Take a handful of Artemisia annua and soak it in two liters of normal temperature water, then take it out and twist out the juice to take it. Tu youyou was inspired by the Artemisia annua recorded here and the way of soaking (i.e. low-temperature extraction). As a scholar who came from an official family and had official experience, Ge Hong attached importance to both health preservation and governance. For him, governing the body is consistent with governing the country. Because Ge Hong believes that the body and the country are interlinked, and they have a common principle, that is, they both follow the "Tao". Ge Hong advocated the integration of Confucianism and Taoism, and declared that his immortality would not violate the loyalty, filial piety and ethics of Confucianism. He said that "those who want immortality should be based on loyalty, filial piety and benevolence and faith. If they do not practice virtue but do everything, they will not live forever." "infidelity and filial piety are the great evil of sin". Ge Hong linked the immortal alchemy with the Confucian principles and famous teachings. People who commit many evils cannot live long, let alone live long. In Ge Hong's ideological system, both Confucianism and Taoism should emphasize benevolence, goodness, loyalty and faith, just like the moral spirit embodied in "apricot forest spring warmth" and "hanging pot to help the world". As a thinker of Confucianism and Taoism, Ge Hong is deeply rooted in the soil of life and society, and has a very thorough insight into the world and human nature. He said that "the prosperity of Yang cannot be glorious and decadent, and the wisdom cannot move down the stupidity" (inner chapter of baopuzi · golden elixir) is a deepening of Confucius's "only the wisdom and the stupidity". Ge Hong has many wise and famous sayings, such as "those who have the same aspirations will not be far away from the mountains and seas; those who are good will will not be close at hand", "those who have strong aspirations will be the pillar of success and fame. If mountaineering does not stop with difficulties and dangers, they will reach the mountains", "those who are poor will be rich without wealth, and those who are willing and humble will be proud of not being an official", "those with thick clouds, fierce rain and strong bow, arrows will be far away", "choose first and then hand over, and choose not first", which are full of wise philosophy and enlightenment, It's enlightening. In the second year of Xianhe in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (327), Ge Hong heard that Jiaozhi produced dansha, so he asked to be the county magistrate of goulou (now Beiliu City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region). When passing through Guangzhou, Shi Dengyue, who was assassinated, stayed and went to Luofu Mountain to live in seclusion for alchemy and write books. Ge Hong died at the age of 81 and was called a little fairy. Later generations built the famous Taoist temple Chongxu ancient temple in the place where Gehong Jielu practiced. Therefore, Luofu Mountain has become the first holy land of Taoism in Lingnan. Gehong has been widely worshipped and sacrificed by the people in Lingnan. "Gehong medicine" and "Gehong ointment". Today, some traditional Chinese medicine and even pharmaceutical companies are directly named after "Gehong", which shows that Gehong has a far-reaching impact on China's traditional Chinese medicine culture. Serving the society and integrating with Confucianism, Ge Hong can be called an important figure in the history of the Sinicization of Taoism. (outlook new era)
Edit：Yuanqi Tang Responsible editor：Xiao Yu
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