Xiūzhēn shíshū Huángtíng nèijǐng wǔzàng liùfǔ tú 修真十書黃庭內景五藏六府圖
Charts of the Five Viscera and Six Receptacles in the Inner Landscape of the Yellow Court, from the “Ten Books on Cultivating Perfection”
by 胡愔 (撰, hào Jiànsù zǐ 見素子, mid-9th century)
About the work
A one-juan illustrated treatise on the Five Viscera (wǔzàng 五臟) and Six Receptacles (liùfǔ 六腑) according to the Huángtíng nèijǐng 黃庭內景, juan 54 of the Xiūzhēn shíshū 修真十書 in the Zhèngtǒng Dàozàng 正統道藏 (DZ 263j / CT 263.54), 洞真部 方法類. The text is a recension of the Huángtíng nèijǐng wǔzàng liùfǔ bǔxiè tú 黃庭內景五臟六腑補瀉圖 DZ 432 by Hú Yīn 胡愔 (hào Jiànsù zǐ 見素子) — one of the very few named female Daoist authors of the Táng — whose autograph preface is dated the wùchén 戊辰 year (= 848) of Dàzhōng 大中 1. The treatise integrates the visceral pantheon of the Huángtíng nèijǐng KR5b0015 with concrete physiological methods for diagnosis and treatment, applying bǔ 補 (supplementation) and xiè 瀉 (drainage) to disturbances of the five visceral qì. Each viscus is presented with a chart showing its location, governing spirit, seasonal correspondence, dietary regimen, breathing prescription (using the liùzì 六字 method — xū 噓 for the liver, hē 呵 for the heart, hū 呼 for the spleen, sī 呬 for the lungs, chuī 吹 for the kidneys, xī 嘻 for the triple burner), and a dǎoyǐn 導引 gymnastic exercise. The work bridges the ancient Daoist visualisation tradition of the Huángtíng and the medical zàngxiàng 臟象 framework, and was a key source for later medical-Daoist syntheses.
Prefaces
The Xiūzhēn shíshū recension preserves Hú Yīn’s autograph preface (Dàzhōng 大中 wùchén = 848). In summary the preface explains: “I, Jiànsù zǐ, since youth have read widely in the texts of the Sù 素 [Huángdì nèijīng sùwèn], the Líng 靈 [Língshū], and the records of the gé sǎn 格三 — and have always grieved that, although the principles of the five viscera and six receptacles are minutely set out in Huángtíng nèijǐng and the Sùwèn, the practical methods of supplementing and draining their qì are scattered. I have therefore drawn together the records concerning the colour, the spirit, the qì, the seat, and the disease-symptoms of each viscus, and made for each one a chart and an explanation, so that the practitioner of yǎngshēng may have the matter under one hand.” The preface ends with a self-effacing apology for daring to write on so weighty a subject as a woman.
Abstract
The text was originally an independent treatise circulated as DZ 432 Huángtíng nèijǐng wǔzàng liùfǔ bǔxiè tú; the Xiūzhēn shíshū compilers reproduced it under a slightly truncated title (omitting bǔxiè 補瀉 from the title heading) but the body of the text is the same. Hú Yīn’s biography is otherwise unrecorded — she is one of the very few named woman Daoist authors of the Táng — and what little we know derives from her authorial preface. Catherine Despeux, Immortelles de la Chine ancienne (Puiseaux: Pardès, 1990), 169–175, places Hú Yīn within the broader Táng female Daoist fāngshù tradition; the Wǔzàng liùfǔ tú is one of the most important Táng documents in Daoist medical-physiological theory and an early witness to the liùzì jué 六字訣 breathing method that became central to later qìgōng 氣功 practice. Composition is precisely datable to 848 from the preface.
Translations and research
No full translation. Discussed in Catherine Despeux, Immortelles de la Chine ancienne (Puiseaux: Pardès, 1990); on the liùzì breathing method and its medical-Daoist context: Catherine Despeux, “Gymnastics: The Ancient Tradition,” in Livia Kohn ed., Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1989), 225–62; Vivienne Lo, “The Influence of Yangsheng Culture on Early Chinese Medical Theory,” Asia Major 14.2 (2001), 61–99. Standard scholarly entry on the parallel DZ 432: Catherine Despeux entry in Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon (2004), Vol. 1 §2.A.4 (cited at 1:347–348).
Links
- Kanseki Repository KR5a0273
- Parallel: KR5b0116 Huángtíng nèijǐng wǔzàng liùfǔ bǔxiè tú (DZ 432, full title preserving bǔxiè).