Fangshi

Fangshi(Chinese:Phương sĩ;pinyin:fāngshì;lit.'method master') wereChinesetechnical specialists who flourished from the third century BCE to the fifth century CE. English translations offangshiincludealchemist,astrologer,diviner,exorcist,geomancer,doctor,magician,monk,mystic,necromancer,occultist,omenologist,physician,physiognomist,technician,technologist,thaumaturge,andwizard.

Etymology

TheChinesewordfangshiPhương sĩcombinesfangPhương"direction; side; locality; place; region; formula; (medical) prescription; recipe; method; way" andshiSĩ"scholar; intelligentsia; gentleman; officer;yeoman;soldier; person trained in a certain field ".

Many English-language texts transliterate this word asfangshi(older texts usefangshih), but some literally translate it.

• "gentlemen possessing magical recipes"
• "recipe gentlemen"
• "masters of recipes"
• "'direction-scholar', that is, one versed in interpreting omens from their orientation"[fromfengjiao"wind angle" divination below]
• "Esoteric Masters"
• "gentleman who possess techniques, technician"
• "masters of recipes and methods"
• "masters of methods"
• "masters of esoterica"

The Chinese historianYu Ying-shiconcludes that "as a general term,fang-shihmay be translated 'religious Taoists' or 'popular Taoists,' since all such arts were later incorporated in the Taoist religion.Only in specific cases depending on contexts, should the term be translated 'magicians,' 'alchemists,' or 'immortalists.' "Fangshi"is an elusive term that defies a consistent translation"

There is general agreement that theshiinfangshiPhương sĩmeans "master; gentleman; trained specialist" (cf.DaoshiĐạo sĩ"Daoist priest; diviner" ), but considerable disagreement about the meaning offang.

The etymology offangshiis "subject to various interpretations", writes DeWoskin.

By the end of theLater Chou,there are several occurrences of the word "fang" in two new binomes,fang-shu[Y thư] andfang-shuo[Phương nói], literally, "fang books" and "fang theories". The word "fang" in its various common contexts meant "efficacious," "formulaic," "parallel," "correlative," "comparative," "medicinal," "spiritual," or "esoteric." Throughout archaic times, the word also occurs commonly in the compoundssu-fang[Tứ phương], meaning four outlying areas, and hence refers to people, places, and cultures removed from the central court. Each of these meanings is potentially a factor in the etymology of the term. "

Harper says "DeWoskin's attempt at a definition forfang shihwhich admits every possible meaning offanginto its analysis renders the term meaningless ".

Whateverfangorshihas separate words meant in an earlier period, when they were combined to form the name for wonder-workers who gathered at the Ch'in and Han courts, the name expressed some essential quality of these people. Automatically most of the meanings forfangwhich DeWoskin claims are "potentially a factor in the etymology of the term" can be eliminated, especially the series "parallel, correlative, comparative." In analyzing the termfang shih,earlier scholars have focused primarily on the meaning "method" or "tablet on which a method is recorded, recipe," in which casefang shihmeans "master possessing methods" or "master possessing recipes."

Based upon words that Han texts use to describe occult practices,fangshuY thư"recipe book; treatise on an art/skill; collection of medical prescriptions" andfangbanPhương bản"recipe tablet; treatise on an art/skill", Harper concludes, "The possession of writings containing occult knowledge which might be revealed to select patrons was the chief characteristic of all who were known asfang shih." Describing the background offangshi,DeWoskin suggests an "other" etymology.

It is possible to group the antecedents of fang-shih thought and techniques into three distinct areas: astrology and calendrics; the practices ofwumediums and conjury; and pharmaceutical and hygienic medicine. Virtually all the fang-shih prominent enough to be included in dynastic histories specialized in only one of these areas. Because the three areas are not historically related, and the typical fang-shih does not embrace them all, the grouping suggests that the common sense of the namefang-shihwas somewhat akin to "others," and did not attach to any readily definable school or tradition.

Harper also faults this hypothesis, concluding, "A more judicious examination could not lead to this sort ofreductio ad absurdum."

Summarizing how Chinese authors used the wordfangshifrom the Han through the Song Dynasties,Sivinlists four general criteria.

1. Thefang-shihusually belonged to the tiny privileged segment of the population who could read books and leave records. The writings we have, not a random sample, are of high literary quality. Early stories about technicians often have them confounding philosophers. Thefang-shihusually came from a family that we know held official rank, even in periods when such rank was normally hereditary.
2. Thefang-shihhimself did not usually hold high rank in the regular civil service. If he did, it tended to be obtained irregularly, most often as an imperial gesture. Someone who reached a high post through a conventional career, although he might have considerable mechanical skill, scientific knowledge, or mastery of the occult, was not often called afang-shih....
3. Thefang-shihdid not strive for the personal goals that the well-born expected of their own kind. He usually held conventional moral and political opinions, if we can rely on the record, but the stigma of inappropriate technical enthusiasms, however faint, is commonly visible. Someone in a conspicuous position of orthodoxy, regardless of technical expertise, was not considered afang-shih.
4. Thefang-shihhad powers only rarely seen in the orthodox literatus – to foresee the future, to arrogate to himself the shaping and transforming powers of natural process (tsao huaTạo hóa), and so on. At the same time descriptions of him never limn the full humanity, the mastery of the social Way, of the more conventional great.

History

Fangshiare first recorded in early Chinese canonicalTwenty-Four Histories:Sima Qian's (c. 91 BCE)ShijiSử kýRecords of the Grand Historian,Ban Gu's (82 CE)HanshuHán ThưBook of Han,Chen Shou's (289 CE)SanguozhiTam Quốc ChíRecords of Three Kingdoms,andFan Ye's (445 CE)HouhanshuHậu Hán ThưBook of Later Han.DeWoskintranslatedfangshibiographies from the latter three histories, but some reviewerscriticized him for ignoring Ngo's French translation of the same biographies.

These historical texts document that during the lateWarring States period(475–221 BCE),fangshioriginated in northern China and specialized inxianTiên"immortality; transcendence" techniques. During theQin Dynasty(221–206 BCE) andHan Dynasty(206 BCE-220 CE),fangshiwere patronized by emperors who sought theelixir of immortality.By the middle of theSix Dynasties Period(220–569 CE), the role offangshihad declined and their techniques had been adapted intoDaoistreligion andtraditional Chinese medicine.

The wordfangshifirst appears in theFengshan shuPhong thiện thư"Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" of the "Records of the Grand Historian". This context concernsQin Shi Huang(r. 221–210 BCE), the first Qin emperor traveling and performing sacrifices in the northeastern coastal states ofQiTềandYanYến(present-dayShandong,Hebei,andLiaoning). During the era ofKing Wei(r. c. 356–320 BCE) and King Xuan (r. 319–301 BCE) of Qi and King Zhao (r. 311–279 BCE) of Yan,fangshiclaimed to have studied the techniques ofZou Yan,who systematizedYin-Yangand theFive Phases.

Song Wuji, Zhengbo Qiao, Chong Shang, Xianmen Gao, and Zui Hou were all men of Yan who practiced magic and followed the way of the immortals, discarding their mortal forms and changing into spiritual beings by means of supernatural aid. Zou Yan won fame among the feudal lords for his theories of theyinandyangand the succession of the five elements, but the [Phương sĩ] magicians who lived along the seacoast of Qi and Yan, though they claimed to transmit his teachings, were unable to understand them. Thus from this time there appeared a host of men, too numerous to mention, who expounded all sorts of weird and fantastic theories and went to any lengths to flatter the rulers of the day and to ingratiate themselves with them.

Compare Welch's translation, "they practiced the Tao of recipes and immortality (fang hsien tao[Phương tiên nói]).Their bodies were released, dissolved, and transformed. They relied on serving ghosts (kuei[Quỷ]) and spirits (shen[Thần]). "These earlyfangshiasserted to know of three divine mountains where the elixir of immortality existed,PenglaiBồng Lai,FangzhangPhương trượng,and YingzhouDoanh Châuin theBohai Sea.

From the age of Kings Wei and Xuan of Qi and King Zhao of Yan, men were sent from time to time to set out to sea and search for the islands of Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou. These were three spirit mountains which were supposed to exist in the Gulf of Bohai. They were not very far from the land of men, it was said, but the difficulty was that, whenever a boat was about to touch their shores, a wind would always spring up and drive it away. In the past, people said, there had been men who succeeded in reaching them, and found them peopled by fairy sprits who possessed the elixir of immortality. All the plants and birds and animals of the islands were white, and the palaces and gates were made of gold and silver. Seen from afar, the three spirit mountains looked like clouds but, as one drew closer, they seemed instead to be down under the water. In any event, as soon as anyone got near to them, the wind would suddenly come and drag the boat away, so that in the end no one could ever reach them.

TheShijialso records that the Qin emperor dispatched thefangshiXu FuTừ phúcto obtain the elixir of life from thexianAnqi Sheng,who lived on Mount Penglai in 219 BCE, and then sent Lu ShengLư sinh"Master Lu" in 215 BCE. The emperor subsequently dispatched three otherfangshiexpeditions to the spirit islands, but none returned to China.

Emperor Wu of Han(r. 141–87 BCE) lavishly patronizedfangshi,writes DeWoskin, "to such an extent that virtually anyone with a plausible 'secret tradition' rushed to court to collect his reward".Emperor Wu's uncle and advisorLiu An(179–122 BCE, compiler of theHuainanzi) gathered "several thousand"fangshiand compiled their techniques ofshenxianThần tiên"spirit transcendence" andhuangbaiHoàng bạch"alchemy". Two famousfangshiadvised Emperor Wu to emulate the legendaryYellow Emperor's practices. The alchemistLi Shaojunattempted to recreate the Yellow Emperor's rite to transform cinnabar into gold. The architect Gongyu DaiCông đai ngọcclaimed to have the Yellow Emperor's plans for a 12-story pentagonal hall, which Emperor Wu had rebuilt in 102 BCE.

Csikszentmihalyi elucidates thefangshicategory's chronological development by contrasting its place in these early Chinese histories.In theRecords of the Grand Historian,"the methods (fangPhương) used by thefangshigenerally concerned demons and spirits: methods for retreating from old age (quelao fangLại lão phương), methods involving demons and gods (guishen fangQuỷ thần phương), and methods for gods, monsters and anomalies (shen guai qi fangThần tiên ma quái kỳ phương). "TheBook of Later Hanchapter onfangshibroadened the category to include omen and portent techniques such asfengjiaoPhong giác"wind angles". TheRecords of Three Kingdomscombined the Han historical categories offangshiPhương sĩandshushuSố thuật"numbers and arts" (divination and omenology) into a chapter onfangshuPhương thuật"methods and arts". "Thus, thefangshi,originally experts in matters of the spirits, came by the late Han to include the ubiquitous experts in detecting shifts in the balance of the natural world. "

Phương sĩFangshi originated in southern China. Sin was punished by ailments in the view of the Heavenly Masters.The Shangqing syncretized the Heavenly Masters with fangshi.Buddhism, Fangshi, and Heavenly Masters were synchronized in Lingbao.Buddhism,Celestial Mastersand fangshi all contributed to the religious canon of Lingbao.Celestial Master petitions to divinities were copied by the canon of the Lingbao and fangshi rites were also copied by them.

Techniques

Fangshiemployed numerous techniques, methods, and practices. DeWoskin lists forty-two mentioned in historical biographies offangshi.Some are familiar (e.g.,dunjiaĐộn giáp"Evading Stems;sexagenary cycledivination "andwuyiVu y"Medium Healing; shamanic medicine" ), while others are obscure. For instance, DeWoskin explainsfengjiaoPhong giác"Wind Angles" divination.

Wind Angles (Feng-chiao):The wind from eight angles (four sides and four corners) is observed for its direction, strength, and other qualities.... The nature of the analysis is still to be determined, but some sources link the practice to expertise in the five tones (wu-yin), specifically the ability to hear and differentiate pitches that are inaudible to most people.

Csikszentmihalyi clarifiesfengjiao."This practice, which may date back to the Shang dynasty, involves using the temperature, strength, and changes in direction in seasonal winds to determine the local increase and decrease in Yin and Yangqi."TheYinqueshan Han Slips,discovered in 1972, contain manuscripts aboutfengjiaoandnayinNạp âm"Matching Sounds".

Citing examples of the techniques namedtuibuĐẩy bước"astrology"andtingzhuanĐình đoàn"cleromancy",Harper says" inaccuracy abounds "in DeWoskin's translations.

What is the reader to think, for example, when DeWoskin translates the termt'ui puas "astral influences" and explains that it relates to "projections from sky readings" (p. 23)? A more literal rendering oft'ui puwould be "plotting the paces" and the term refers primarily to determining the paths of the sun, moon, and planets.T'ing chuan( "bamboo twisters" in DeWoskin's translation) is identified as "a type of crack making" and DeWoskin gives the following fuller description of the technique: "This technique is one of a number of crack and fracture-reading approaches. Sections of bamboo are broken and the resultant cracks are read" (p. 27). In fact,t'ing chuanrefers to a form of divination by lots, similar to divination with yarrow stalks, in which the counters are slivers of broken bamboo or sometimes twigs broken off plants. DeWoskin appears to have made up his own explanation. His brief summations of other techniques are similarly uninformative or inaccurate.

Somefangshipractices likeshefuBắn phúc"shoot cover" were closer toparlor magicthan esoteric techniques. DeWoskin explains

The repertory by whichfang-shihwon their patronage included not only storytelling, but glib dissertations on astrology, omenology, and esoteric philosophy and various performances of magical arts. The histories record many instances of afang-shihchallenge game,she-fuBắn phúc,where masters the likes of Tung-fang Shuo, Kuan LuQuản lộ,and Guo P'uQuách phác(276–324) guessed the identity of hidden objects before gatherings of dinner guests or skeptical officials.

Notablefangshi

Many famousfangshi"method masters" are considered Daoists.

• Xu FuTừ phúc(fl. 219–210 BCE), sent by Qin Shi Huang to find elixir of immortality
• Luan DaLoan đại(d. 112 BCE), professed to know the secret to immortality
• Gan JiLàm cát(c. 2nd century CE), Daoist priest
• Zuo CiTả từ(c. 3rd century CE), Daoist master, teacher of Ge Xuan
• Ge XuanCát huyền(164–244), Daoist master, grandfather of Ge Hong
• Guan LuQuản lộ(209–256), famous diviner
• Guo PuQuách phác(276–324), commentator and author
• Ge HongCát hồng(283–343), Daoist author of theBaopuzi
• Elder Zhang GuoTrương Quả Lão,(c. mid 8th century), one of theEight Immortals
• Chen TuanTrần đoàn(c. 920–989), Daoist master, originator ofLiuhebafagungfu

The termfangshisometimes occurs in contemporary usage. For instance,Wongapplies thefangshitradition to explain the authorLiu ELưu ngạcand his (1904) novel theTravels of Lao Can.

Connections

Thefangshitradition has diverse origins and affiliations. When first recorded around the fourth century BCE,fangshiwere connected with Zhou dynasty astrology, divination, and record-keeping. During the Qin and Han dynasties,fangshideveloped many new techniques, which were gradually absorbed by Daoist religions (e.g.,Shangqing School), Daoist movements (e.g.,Way of the Five Pecks of Rice),Chinese alchemy(both internalNeidanand externalWaidan),Buddhist meditation,andtraditional Chinese medicine.

"The genealogy of thefangshiis complex ", Robinet writes." They go back to the archivist-soothsayers of antiquity, one of whom supposedly was Laozi himself; under the Shang and Zhou they were the only ones who knew divination and writing ".DeWoskin describes how thefangshiconsolidated several ancient Chinese traditions.

Their divination practices can be traced back to late Shang-dynasty oracle-bone culture, Chou-dynasty milfoil-stalk procedures, and Chou astrological and calendric technology. This historical connection between divination practices, especially calendric and astrological types, and the chronicling of events is reflected in the conspicuous literacy of thefang-shihand their propensity for authoring biographical, geographical, and other narratives. Their medical practices combine elements of the Confucian medical tradition (ju-iThầy thuốc có học) and popular medical practices, derived in large part from shamanic ritual. Hence they practiced a range of therapies from acupuncture and pharmacology to incantation and talismanic exorcism. Their immortality practices encompass both alchemical (wai-tanNgoại đan) and hygienic (nei-tanNội đan) techniques adumbrated in the Taoist classics and elaborated in the emerging religious Taoist movements.

Daoist religions appropriated manyfangshitechniques. Holmes Welch hypothesized that Daoism was a river that united four streams of philosophy, hygiene, alchemy, and Penglai mythology.Fangshiare associated with the latter two.

It was probably between 350 and 250 B.C. that the names of Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Lieh Tzu became associated with what we shall call "philosophical Taoism"; their books testified in turn to the existence of a "hygiene school," which cultivated longevity through breathing exercises and gymnastics; early in the same period the theory of the Five Elements was propounded by Tsou Yen, whose followers are thought to have started research on the elixir of life; and lastly, along the northeastern coasts of China, ships began to sail out in search of the Isles of the Blest, hoping to return with the mushroom that "prevented death".

Welch concludes thatfangshideveloped alchemy, "although Tsou Yen gradually acquired alchemistical stature, he himself knew nothing of the art. It was probably developed by those of his followers who became interested in physical experimentation with the Five Elements. The first elixir they developed was cinnabar, or mercuric sulphide".

Joseph Needhamtraced the origins of Daoism to an alliance betweenfangshi,wuVu"shamans; doctors" and philosophers such asLaoziandZhuangzi:

At the heart of ancient Taoism there was an artisanal element, for both the wizards and the philosophers were convinced that important and useful things could be achieved by using one's hands. They did not participate in the mentality of the Confucian scholar-administrator, who sat on high in his tribunal issuing orders and never employing his hands except in reading and writing. This is why it came about that wherever in ancient China one finds the sprouts of any of the natural sciences the Taoists are sure to be involved. Thefang shihPhương sĩor 'gentlemen possessing magical recipes' were certainly Taoist, and they worked in all kinds of directions as star-clerk and weather-forecasters, men of farm-lore and wort-cunning, irrigators and bridge-builders, architects and decorators, but above all alchemists. Indeed the beginning of all alchemy rests with them if we define it, as surely we should, as the combination of macrobiotics and aurifaction.

Needham defined his "carefully chosen" words:macrobiotics"the belief that, with the aid of botany, zoology, mineralogy, and alchemy, it is possible to prepare drugs or elixirs which will prolong life, giving longevity (shouThọ) or immortality (pu ssuBất tử) "andaurifaction"the belief that it is possible to make gold from other quite different substances, notably the ignoble metals".

Csikszentmihalyi summarizes Daoist-fangshiconnections,

The "methods" of thefangshimay be seen as forerunners of organized Taoist practices on several levels. In the Han, the concept of the Dao served to explain the efficacy of the myriad of newly forming disciplines, and many of these disciplines were the province of thefangshi.This explains why the termdaoshi(Đạo sĩmasters of the Dao) was already beginning to replace the termfangshi(Phương sĩ) in theHanshu,resulting in its gradual eclipse of the latter term. On a more concrete level, many specific techniques of spirit transcendence, medicine, and alchemy initially used byfangshifound their way into later Taoist practice.

Criticism

Gu YongCốc vĩnh(d. 8 BCE), minister toEmperor Cheng of Han,specialist on theYijing,is known for harsh criticism of the contemporaryfangshipractices:

All those occultists, who turn their backs on the right path of benevolence and correct duty, who do not revere the model of the Five Classics but who rather are brimming with claims about the strange and marvelous, about spirits and ghosts, who stand in unquestioning reverence of the sacrificial practices of every locale,... who say that immortals are to be found in this world and who imbibe all manner of longevity drugs, who capriciously set out on distant quests and travel so high that their shadows are cast upwards,... who have mastered the transformation of base metal to gold, who have made uniform the five colors and five stores within their bodies — those occultists cheat people and delude the masses.

See also

• Fangxiangshi

References

• Csikszentmihalyi, Mark (2008). "FangshiPhương sĩ'masters of methods'".In Fabrizio Pregadio (ed.).The Encyclopedia of Taoism.Routledge. pp. 406–409.
• Doctors Diviners and Magicians of Ancient China: Biographies ofFang-shih,translated by Dewoskin, Kenneth J.,Columbia University Press,1983
• DeWoskin, Kenneth J. (1986). "Fang-shih".In William H. Nienhauser (ed.).The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature.Vol. 1. Indiana University Press. pp.378–380.ISBN9780253329837.
• Lagerwey, John; Lü, Pengzhi, eds. (2009).Early Chinese Religion - Part two: The Period of Division (220–589 Ad).Vol. 1. BRILL.ISBN9789004175853.
• Sivin, Nathan (1995)."VII - Taoism and Science"(PDF).Medicine, Philosophy, and Religion in Ancient China, Researches and Reflections.Variorum.ISBN9780860784937.
• Welch, Holmes (1957).Taoism: The Parting of the Way.Beacon Press.

Footnotes

Further reading

• DeWoskin, Kenneth J. 1981. "A Source Guide for the Lives and Techniques of Han and Six DynastiesFang-shih,"Bulletin of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions,79–105.
• Ngo Van Xuyet. 2002.Divination, magie et politique dans la Chine ancienne.Librairie You-Feng.

External links

• Fang Shih,Overview of World Religions