Pengzu's Treatise on Preserving Health and Nourishing Nature彭祖摄生养性论
- Also known as
- Treatise on Preserving Health and Nourishing Nature
- Author / transmission
- attributed to Pengzu
- Period
- Six Dynasties–Tang · Attributed to Pengzu, author and date unknown, probably between the Six Dynasties and the Tang; one fascicle, of short length.
- 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
Pengzu's Treatise on Preserving Health and Nourishing Nature is attributed to the legendarily long-lived Pengzu, and is a brief general treatise on nourishing life. It proposes that 'one whose spirit is strong lives long, while one whose qi is strong is easily extinguished,' emphasizing that the first priority of nourishing life is to regulate the spirit and discard desire: 'heavy clothing and thick bedding, a body spared all toil, bring on illnesses of wind and cold; rich meats and dried delicacies, drunkenness and satiety and surfeit, bring on illnesses of accumulation and stagnation' — pointing out that wealth, rank and ease are themselves a cause of illness; it advocates moderation in diet, regularity in daily routine, restraint in joy and anger, and a balance of labor and rest, while warning against extreme drunkenness, extreme anger, sweating in a draft, and prolonged sitting or lying down. The whole text touches on no specific technique, focusing instead on lifestyle and psychological self-regulation; its language is terse and aphoristic, a representative statement of the Daoist life-nourishing idea of 'treating illness before it arises.' Pengzu already appears as a symbol of longevity in the Biographies of Exemplary Immortals, the Biographies of Divine Immortals, and the Zhuangzi; from the Six Dynasties onward a series of texts bearing his name proliferated, such as the Pengzu jing and the Pengzu yangxing jing, of which this treatise is among the more widely circulated, often read alongside the Records of Nourishing Nature and Extending Life.
Key Ideas
- The first priority of nourishing life is regulating the spirit and discarding desire
- Wealth, rank and ease are themselves a cause of illness
- Moderation in diet, regularity of routine, restraint in joy and anger
- Concerned with lifestyle rather than specific techniques
- A representative text of the Pengzu longevity tradition
Structure
One fascicle, a short discursive treatise.
Editions
- Zhengtong Daozang edition
- Zhonghua Daozang edition
Full Text & Online Resources
Related scriptures
Records of Nourishing Nature and Extending Life, Perfected Sun's Treatise on Preserving Health, Essentials for Cultivating Longevity- 任继愈主编《道藏提要》
- Schipper & Verellen, The Taoist Canon, 2004
- 丁光迪《养性延命录校注》相关论述
- 《中华道藏》第 23 册