Eight Discourses on Nurturing Life遵生八笺

Also known as

Eight Discourses on Nurturing Life from the Yashang Studio

Author / transmission

Gao Lian (Ming)

Period

Ming · Compiled by Gao Lian of the Ming, published in the 19th year of the Wanli era (1591); nineteen scrolls, divided into eight discourses. A literati compendium of health preservation, appended among Daoist health-preservation literature.

Canon division

Outside the Canon (Ming-dynasty text on nourishing life)

Collected in

Outside the Canon

Category

Medicine and Nourishing Life

Fascicles

19 juan (Eight Discourses)

Synopsis

The Eight Discourses on Nurturing Life (Zunsheng bajian) is the summa of literati health-preservation learning in the Ming dynasty, compiled by the Hangzhou man of letters Gao Lian, divided into eight discourses: the "Discourse on Wondrous Sayings for Pure Cultivation," gathering health-preservation maxims from the Three Teachings; the "Discourse on Regulation through the Four Seasons," describing daily regimen and daoyin season by season; the "Discourse on Peaceful Daily Living," discussing dwellings and household implements; the "Discourse on Extending Life and Warding Off Illness," recording daoyin, the Six-Sound Formula, and various methods of internal alchemy; the "Discourse on Food and Ingestion," recording recipes and medicinal cuisine; the "Discourse on Leisurely Appreciation," discussing the connoisseurship of calligraphy, painting, and antiques; the "Discourse on Numinous and Secret Elixirs and Medicines," recording elixir formulas and medicinal preparations; and the "Discourse on Transcendent Withdrawal beyond the Dust," recording the deeds of lofty recluses. The whole work fuses Daoist health-preservation arts, medical formulas, literati connoisseurship, and the ideal of reclusion into a single whole, reflecting the late-Ming literati notion that "nourishing life is the art of living." Much of its content is transcribed from earlier texts such as the Records of Nourishing Nature and Extending Life, the Essentials for Cultivating Longevity, and the Great Clarity Scripture of Daoyin and Nourishing Life, and it is therefore also useful for the recovery and collation of lost texts; the "Discourse on Leisurely Appreciation" is moreover an important document in the history of Chinese art connoisseurship. The work also circulated in Japan during the Edo period, exerting a broad influence on health-preservation culture across East Asia.

Key Ideas

• Summa of Ming-dynasty literati health-preservation learning
• Eight discourses covering daily life, daoyin, food, elixirs, connoisseurship, and reclusion
• Literati notion that nourishing life is the art of living
• Transcriptions of older texts useful for recovery and collation
• Also a document in the history of art connoisseurship

Structure

Nineteen scrolls, divided into the eight discourses: Wondrous Sayings for Pure Cultivation, Regulation through the Four Seasons, Peaceful Daily Living, Extending Life and Warding Off Illness, Food and Ingestion, Leisurely Appreciation, Numinous and Secret Elixirs and Medicines, and Transcendent Withdrawal beyond the Dust.

Editions

• Wanli-era Yashangzhai printed edition
• Siku Quanshu edition
• Punctuated and collated editions by Bashu Shushe and People's Medical Publishing House

Translations

• Portions are treated in English translation studies on Ming material culture and health preservation

Full Text & Online Resources

• CTEXT: Zunsheng Bajian
• Wikipedia: Zunsheng Bajian

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