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Farzeen Baldrian Hussein Inner Alchemy: Notes on the Origin and Use of the Term

Farzeen Baldrian Hussein Inner Alchemy: Notes on the Origin and Use of the Term neidan In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, Vol. 5, 1989. pp. 163-190. Résumé Le terme neidan désigne un ensemble de pratiques d'ordre physiologique et psychologique qu'on pourrait qualifier de "yoga chinois". Destinées à prolonger la vie et, sur le plan mystique, à mener à la délivrance finale, ces pratiques s'étendent de la concentration et la méditation jusqu'à des exercices respiratoires et de gymnastique. Les techniques même furent connues dès la dynastie des Han mais le terme neidan ne figure pas encore dans les textes taoïstes de cette époque. L'emploi de ce terme est un phénomène tardif qui, selon l'auteur, devrait se situer entre les dynasties des Tang et des Song. Une analyse historique et régionale des sources montre que le terme était utilisé d'abord dans certaines régions du Sud, où il semble avoir été lié aux montagnes sacrées telles que le Lofou Shan et le Heng Shan. Les informations concernant ce sujet sont tirées surtout des biographies des immortels taoïstes. Quant aux différentes définitions du terme neidan dans les textes alchimiques, on note que souvent, le neidan est défini comme technique du Souffle, telle que la respiration embryonnaire (taixi) ou l'art de conduire le Souffle (xingqi). D'autres textes parlent du neidan comme d'une étape dans le processus alchimique, d'autres encore le comprennent comme "médecine intérieure", ou comme une technique de pratique sexuelle (fangzhong) . La diversité de ces interprétations dans les enseignements de différents maîtres nous permettra peut-être, dans l'avenir, d'établir une liste des écoles au sein du courant neidan dans le taoïsme. Citer ce document / Cite this document : Baldrian Hussein Farzeen. Inner Alchemy: Notes on the Origin and Use of the Term neidan. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, Vol. 5, 1989. pp. 163-190. doi : 10.3406/asie.1989.947 http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/asie_0766-1177_1989_num_5_1_947 INNER ALCHEMY: NOTES ON THE ORIGIN AND USE OF THE TERM NEIDAN Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein Le terme neidan désigne un ensemble de pratiques d'ordre physiologique et psychologique qu'on pourrait qualifier de "yoga chinois". Destinées à prolonger la vie et, sur le plan mystique, à mener à la délivrance finale, ces pratiques s'étendent de la concen tration et la méditation jusqu'à des exercices respiratoires et de gymnastique. Les techniques même furent connues dès la dynastie des Han mais le terme neidan ne figure pas encore dans les textes taoïstes de cette époque. L'emploi de ce terme est un phénomène tardif qui, selon l'auteur, devrait se situer entre les dynasties des Tang et des Song. Une analyse historique et régionale des sources montre que le terme était utilisé d'abord dans certaines régions du Sud, où il semble avoir été lié aux montagnes sacrées telles que le Lofou Shan et le Heng Shan. Les informations concernant ce sujet sont tirées surtout des biographies des immortels taoïstes. Quant aux différentes définitions du terme neidan dans les textes alchimiques, on note que souvent, le neidan est défini comme technique du Souffle, telle que la respiration embryonnaire (ta.hd) ou l'art de conduire le Souffle fxingqij. D'autres textes parlent du neidan comme d'une étape dans le processus alchimique, d'autres encore le comprennent comme "médecine intérieure", ou comme une technique de pratique sexuelle (Tangzhong) . La diversité de ces interprétations dans les enseignements de différents maîtres nous permettra peut-être, dans l'avenir, d'établir une liste des écoles au sein du courant neidan dans le taoïsme. Introduction In recent years the study of Chinese religion in general, and of Taoist medita- tional techniques in particular, has attracted the attention of scholars both in the West and the Orient. Confusion reigns, however, in the use of the term neidan p3f5", or "inner alchemy," since it covers a number of schools using one or a combination of spiritual techniques. A twelfth-century author defines it as a syncretic system comprising all the longevity methods. It is, moreover, characterized by the use of a special esoteric vocabulary borrowed from practitioners of waidan ^j-^-, alchemists. Although the latter often worked in a laboratory and used various ingredients in an effort to turn base metals into gold and silver or to concoct drugs which would cure diseases and Cahiers d'Extrême- Asie 5 (1989-1990): 163-190 164 Farzeen Baldrian- Hussein eventually lengthen the lifespan of the user, the main motive seems to have been religious (N. Sivin, see postscript, p. 189). One of the aims of Chinese alchemy, since antiquity, has been the attainment of immortality. This goal was shared by both waidan and neidan adepts alike. For the neidan alchemist, however, his body was the laboratory which contained all the elements needed to transform the mortal self into an indestructible entity. How this was done depended on the affiliation of the adept : although most neidan masters employed a common terminology, their interpretation of the terms and techniques in volved were often dissimilar. What these techniques were does not concern us here, as this topic has been the object of various studies.1 The present article deals with two vital problems in the study of neidan, namely, the date when the term neidan actually came into use and secondly, the different meanings and equivalents of the term itself. 1. Pseudo-historical Sources The problem of the earliest use of the term neidan is a thorny one. We are dealing with a term for which the sources are of dubious date and at best can be considered pseudo-historical. The present article cannot claim to be a complete or exhaustive study of a subject that would require a considerable amount of research on Buddhism, especially concerning the problem of the relationship of Taoism to the Tiantai ^i$ and Mijiao $J|& schools of Bud dhism. Until this has been done, nothing definitive can be said on the problem.2 The present study is simply intended as an outline of the present level of re search. Many years ago Arthur Waley, in his "Notes on Chinese Alchemy,"3 claimed to have found the source of the first use of the term neidan fàfjr: the phrase, surprisingly enough, figures in a vow taken by the meditation pp master Huisi H,g> (515-77), entitled: Nanyue da chanshi lishi yuanwen W&JkWMaLm^Â^C (see below, p. 169). Many scholars, including Joseph Needham and Yoshinobu 1) See in particular J. Needham, SCC, vol. V:5; I. Robinet, Méditation taoïste, Paris, 1979, and La révélation du Shangqing dans L'histoire du taoïsme, Paris, 1984; Catherine Despeux, Traité d'alchimie et de physiologie taoïste, Paris, 1 979 ; Poul Andersen, The Method of Holding the Three Ones : A Taoist Manual of Meditation of the Fourth Century A.D., Copenhagen and Atlantic Highlands, N.J., 1980; Farzeen Baldrian-Hussein, Procédés Secrets du Joyau magique, Paris, 1984; Edward A. Schafer, The Divine Woman, Berkeley, 1973, and Pacing the Void, Berkeley, 1977; Livla Kohn, Seven Steps to the Tao: Sima Chengzhen's J^uozvang tun, Monumenta Serica Monograph Series XX, Nettetal, 1987; Ute Engelhardt, Die klassische Tradition der Qi-Ubungen (Qigong), Mûnchener Ostasiatische Studien, Stuttgart, 1987. 2) It is to be hoped that Michel Strickmann will soon publish a study on the subject. I have unfortunately been unable so far to obtain a copy of the article by Sengoku Keisho flllEIÏJÏ, "Eshi no shinsen shiso to Nangaku nyûzan ni tsuite" @JS©#flllSfê!£ S?SfcA|iJK.o(,>-C, in Koma- zawa Daigaku Daigakuin Bukkyôgaku kenkyûkai nenpô ^}R±^±^U\%WiWift^i¥-W 16, 1983, pp. 38^14. 3) Arthur Waley, "Notes on Chinese Alchemy (supplementary to Johnson's 'Study of Chinese Alchemy')," in Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 1930, 6.1, p. 14. Motes on the Term ' neidan3 165 Sakade, accept the authenticity of this tradition.4 Chen Guofu I^H^F, on the other hand, believes the phrase was first used in the £hidao pian Hg, at tributed to the elusive Taoist Su Yuanming Mtu^B (or Yuan-lang xâf]).5 Both these sources are dubious, as we shall presently see. As far as Taoist tradition is concerned, we find the terms neidan and waidan used in the biographies of legendary or semi-historical figures such as Laozi ^^ and Deng Yuzhi fP|j|$;è.; the latter at least antedates the monk Huisi (see below, p. 169). The development of meditational techniques in the South and their con nection with particular regions, especially mountains, in pre-Tang Taoism, has already been the subject of studies by Isabelle Robinet and Michel Strick- mann.6 Robinet has shown that meditational techniques practiced on Maoshan (in Jiangxi) underwent a progressive change towards interiorization, which can be said to be a characteristic of the later neidan schools.7 Although Maoshan techniques play an important role in inner alchemy, two other mountains in the South are of interest to us in connection with the use of the term neidan'. Luofoushan H#|iJ in the vicinity of Canton and Hengshan HfiiJ in Hunan. In the following pages I present some of the stories which link these two mount ains to the first use of the term neidan. a. Luofoushan It is difficult to find sources for the use of the term neidan that definitely date to the pre-Tang period, as most of the sources available to us are of a much later date. As far as Luofoushan is concerned, Michel Soymié's excellent mono graph uploads/Geographie/ inner-alchemy.pdf