Chinese alchemy

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Chinese alchemy occurs in the context of Daoism . In Chinese sources, alchemy is often called Jindan zhi dao ( Chinese  金丹 之 道 , Pinyin jīndān zhī dào ), "Path of the Golden Elixir". The term elixir refers to the elixir of life or elixir of immortality. In modern research, Chinese alchemy is divided into Waidan and Neidan. Waidan ( 外 丹 , wàidān  - "outer vermilion, outer elixir") describes Chinese alchemy in its outer form, in contrast to Neidan ( 内丹 , nèidān  - "inner vermilion, inner elixir"), the inner alchemy. However, the two terms developed in Neidan himself, who initially designated certain stages of the practice of alchemy.

Waidan

The main focus of the Waidan is the production of an elixir of immortality from minerals, metals or plants. Waidan encompasses a wide variety of doctrines and practices.

Waidan has its origins in the Han period and its heyday in the Tang period . After that, Waidan gradually went under and ceased to exist from the Ming period .

In Daozang about a hundred texts on the outer alchemy have survived. In these writings, the early Waidan refers to gods , demons, ceremonies and rituals relating to the gods, while the later Waidan, from the time of the Six Dynasties , referred to cosmological origins and functions that served to achieve the original state of existence. The later form of the Waidan contributed significantly to the development of the Neidan.

In this regard there are two main lines of Waidan, the earlier Taiqing and the later Santongqi tradition ( Wei Boyang ). Taiqing developed in the Jiangnan region from the third century onwards, so that local exorcistic and ritual practices have flowed from this region. At the time of the origin of the Shangqing , the Zhouyi Santongqi was also used in Jiangnan, which then became widespread at the time of the Six Dynasties and was the main script of Waidan and Neidan from the Tang period . The early Taiqing tradition relates its teachings and practices mainly to rituals , while the Santongqi is cosmological. To describe the relationship of the Dao to the cosmos, it uses cosmological, astronomical and alchemical symbols.

Neidan

Nèi Jīng Tú - The “Map of the Inner Landscape” serves as an orientation for the adepts of Neidan
Neidan exercise

Neidan ( 内丹 , Neidan ) is a Daoist school of interior alchemy that during the Song and Yuan Dynasty in China was born. In contrast to external alchemy ( 外 丹 , wàidān ), internal alchemy does not aim at the production of a substance in the laboratory, but is an enlightenment technique that belongs to Daoist mysticism . Neidan is a method of order of inner and outer existence and includes techniques of existential and intellectual integration.

A characteristic of Neidan is that speculative elements have been adopted from Buddhism , e.g. B. Gong'ans ( Koan ) and speculations about emptiness (Wu, 無  /  无 , wú ) and existence (You, 有 , yǒu ), which Yijing plays a major role, whose symbols are viewed as stylized and abstract forms of fundamental truths, and reference is made to Confucianism and Confucian literature. It is an attempt to synthesize the three teachings (Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism).

The Neidan texts have different characteristics:

  • They represent techniques of mental and physical training.
  • They incorporate different Daoist currents such as breathing exercises , visualizations from Shangqing or alchemical techniques.
  • They systematically use the trigrams and hexagrams of the Yijing.
  • They refer to chemical techniques that have metaphorical and symbolic meaning in them.

The first texts that can be safely assigned to the Neidan flow go back to the 8th to 9th centuries. Many texts refer to the writings of Wei Boyang , a legendary immortal who is said to have lived in the 2nd century and who is said to have composed the Santong Qi and the Guwen Longhu, texts that cannot be reliably dated. From the 12th century onwards, schools of Neidan emerged, one of which is Quanzhen ( 全真道 ), the school of whole truth founded by Wang Zhe and which continues to this day in China. This school also had an influence on the Chinese imperial court in the 12th and 13th centuries and was very popular among the educated class until it was ousted in its influence by Buddhism.

The goal of inner alchemy is to lead to the birth of a new human being, the cosmic or sacred embryo ( Shengtai ), and to elevate the spirit above the world. Yuanjing, the "original essence", is a central concept of Neidan. Their symbols and techniques are highly complex and represent a mental reorganization of the individual, which can be simplified in such a way that the adept starts from the primal chaos, creates coordinates and boundaries, sets them in vibrations and dynamics, puts them together and interweaves them in order to To unite and merge center, so that instances are created that become more and more pure. These processes are repeated until the adept has reached the pure emptiness that is the Dao . Neidan differs from the techniques of Qigong in that it focuses on mental techniques and the physical exercises, such as Qigong, which are also practiced in today's monasteries, are only preparatory stages.

The school of Quanzhen emphasizes that the goal is not physical immortality, as in the earlier schools of Daoism (e.g. the sky masters or Shangqing ), but that it is about purely internal processes that set the spirit over the world . The Quanzhen School was the first school of Daoism, which built monasteries on the model of Chan Buddhism and introduced strict rules of celibacy , abstinence from alcohol, meat, lust, anger and riches.

There are still some Quanzhen monasteries in Taiwan, and monasteries are now being rebuilt and inhabited in the PRC.

A famous representative of the school of internal alchemy was Zhang Boduan , the most famous of which was Sun Bu'er .

literature

  • Thomas Cleary (Ed.): The Three Treasures of the Dao. About the harmony of body, mind and soul. Basic texts of inner alchemy . Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-596-12899-4 ( Fischer 12899 Spirit ).
  • Richard Bertschinger (translator, commentary): Santong Qi. The Dao of immortality (note: Cantong Qi - misspelling of 參  /  叁 , sān  - "three" through 參  /  参 , cān  - "to participate, to participate in something "). Krüger, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-8105-2341-0 .
  • Joseph Needham (Ed.), Science and Civilization in China, Volume 5 (Chemistry and Chemical Technology), 13 parts (11 of which have appeared), Cambridge UP: 1985 to 2004,
  • Isabelle Robinet : History of Taoism . Diederichs, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-424-01298-X .
  • Mantak Chia : Tao Yoga of Inner Alchemy. The secret of the immortals. Fusion of the five elements . Heyne, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-453-70040-6 .
  • Fabrizio Pregadio (Ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. 2 volumes. "Waidan", Volume II, pp. 1002ff. Routledge, London (inter alia) 2008, ISBN 978-0-7007-1200-7 .
  • Friedemann Rex : Chemistry and Alchemy in China . In: Chemistry in Our Time . Volume 21, 1987, pp. 1–8, ISSN  0009-2851

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume I. London (et al.) 2008, p. 551.
  2. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume II. London (inter alia) 2008, p. 1002.
  3. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume II. London (inter alia) 2008, p. 1002.
  4. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume II. London (inter alia) 2008, p. 1002.
  5. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume II. London (inter alia) 2008, p. 1002.
  6. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume II. London (inter alia) 2008, pp. 1002f.
  7. ^ Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.): The Routledge Encyclopedia of Taoism. Volume II. London (et al.) 2008, p. 1003.
  8. ↑ Characters 參  /  叁 , sān  - "three", 參  /  参 , cān  - "participate, participate in sth.", 參  /  参 , shēn  - "Ginseng" (Chinese, English) [1] In: www.zdic. net, accessed October 27, 2018
  9. ↑ Characters 參  /  叁 , sān  - "three", 參  /  参 , cān  - "participate, participate in sth.", 參  /  参 , shēn  - "ginseng" (Chinese, German) [2] In: dict.leo. org, accessed October 27, 2018