Scripture of the Yellow Court and Hidden Stem Methods for the Body黄庭遁甲缘身经

Also known as

Scripture of Hidden Stem Methods for the Body

Author / transmission

Author unknown

Period

Tang · Author unknown, probably compiled in the Tang dynasty; one fascicle.

Canon division

Dongshen Section, Methods (Fangfa) category

Collected in

Zhengtong Daozang, Dongshen Section, Fangfa category.

Category

Medicine and Nourishing Life

Fascicles

One Fascicle (Juan)

Synopsis

The Scripture of the Yellow Court and Hidden Stem Methods for the Body, in one fascicle, combines the body-god visualization tradition of the Scripture of the Yellow Court with the arts of dunjia ('hidden stem') divination and timing, applying them to life-nourishing and the warding off of illness. The scripture arranges the timing of visualization, qi ingestion, massage, and medicine-taking according to the twelve double-hours and the sexagenary jia cycles, holding that each of the body's viscera and organs has its own presiding spirit, and that the corresponding method must be performed at the corresponding time to take effect; it also describes the correspondences of the five viscera with the Five Phases, the five directions, the five colors, and the five notes, combined with practices such as clicking the teeth, swallowing saliva, and holding and circulating the breath. This concept of 'practicing according to the hour' builds on the Han-dynasty divination board (shipan) and dunjia learning, and anticipates the internal-alchemy time-consciousness of the 'living zi hour' and the 'fire phasing of the celestial circuit,' a product of the intersection between the Daoist view of the body and the Daoist view of time. The names of the visceral spirits recorded in the text can be cross-referenced with the system found in the Inner Effulgences Scripture of the Yellow Court, and its methods of ingesting qi to heal illness belong to the same lineage as the Treatise on the Essential Meaning of Ingesting Qi and the Records of Nourishing Nature and Extending Life. Because the text is relatively obscure and has attracted few commentators, it has received little scholarly attention, but it is of considerable value for understanding how Daoist life-nourishing techniques absorbed the tradition of numerological and divinatory arts.

Key Ideas

• Combines Yellow Court body-god visualization with dunjia timing
• Practicing qi ingestion according to the double-hours and sexagenary cycles
• The five viscera correlated with the Five Phases, directions, colors and notes
• Builds on divination-board and dunjia learning, anticipates internal-alchemy time-consciousness
• The intersection of the Daoist view of the body and of time

Structure

One fascicle, arranging its methods of practice according to the hours and days.

Editions

• Zhengtong Daozang edition
• Zhonghua Daozang edition

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT: search
• Wikipedia: Scripture of the Yellow Court

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