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51-471: [REDACTED] Look up bigu in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Bigu may refer to: Bigu (grain avoidance) Bigu Rural Municipality , Nepal Bigu, Iran Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Bigu . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change

102-442: A shenren 神人 "divine person" who does not eat grains but mysteriously helps them grow. Far away on Mount Kuyeh there dwells a spirit man whose skin is like congealed snow and who is gentle as a virgin. He does not eat any of the five grains, but inhales the wind and drinks the dew. He rides on the clouds, drives a flying dragon, and wanders beyond the four seas. His spirit is concentrated, saving things from corruption and bringing

153-634: A bountiful harvest every year. (1) In this passage, Maspero recognizes the principal Daoist practices that were current during the Six Dynasties period: "(1) abstention from Cereals, (2) respiratory exercises, and (3) concentration and meditation. The "journey beyond the Four Seas " (4) corresponds to a manner of directing ecstasy," resembling astral projection . The (168 BCE) Quegu shiqi ( Chinese : 卻穀食氣 ; pinyin : Què gǔ shí qì ) "Eliminating Grain and Eating Qi " manuscript, which

204-876: A few Chinese dictionaries gloss the pronunciation of bigu 辟穀 as pigu , the definitive Hanyu Da Cidian (1997) gives bigu . English lexicographic translations of bigu are compared in this table. Catherine Despeux lists synonyms for bigu "abstention from cereals": duangu Chinese : 斷穀 ; pinyin : Duàn gǔ "stopping cereals" (with duan 斷 "cut off; sever; break; give up"), juegu 絕穀 "discontinuing cereals" ( jue 絕 "cut off; sever; refuse; reject"), quegu 卻穀 "refraining from cereals" ( que 卻 "retreat; decline; reject; refuse"), and xiuliang Chinese : 修糧 ; pinyin : Xiū liáng "stopping grains" (with xiu 修 "repair; trim; prune' cultivate" and liang 糧 "grain; food"). Juegu , unlike these other alternative expressions, had meanings besides Daoist dietary practices. For instance,

255-418: A legendary xian who, like Guiguzi , abstained from grains), and the emperor permitted it. Zhang Liang "set about practising dietary restrictions and breathing and stretching exercises to achieve levitation" (namely, bigu , daoyin , and qingshen ( Chinese : 輕身 ; pinyin : Qīng shēn ) "lightening the body"). After Gaozu died, Empress Lü Zhi urged Zhang to eat, saying, "Man's life in this world

306-406: A man] treats his body bitterly and harshly and goes deep into the mountains in search of hsien immortality, [if he] leaves behind his parents, casts aside his kindred, abstains from the five grains, gives up classical learning, thus running counter to what is cherished by Heaven and Earth in quest of the way of "no death," then he is in no way to communicate with this world or to prevent what

357-517: A reversal of not eating the Five Grains to obtain immortality, the Book of Han also records that in 10 CE, the usurper Wang Mang paid the fangshi Su Lo 蘇樂 , who claimed to know the xian secrets of longevity, to plant some "immortality grain". [T]he five grains were planted within the palace in plots facing according to the color of each one. The seeds had been soaked in (a liquid made from)

408-465: A son of King Ling of Zhou (r. 571–545 BCE). The idea prevails that those who [ bigu ] abstain from eating grain are men well versed in the art of Tao. They say e.g. that Wang Tse Ch'iao and the like, because they did not touch grain, and lived on different food than ordinary people, had not the same length of life as ordinary people, in so far as having passed a hundred years, they transcended into another state of being, and became immortals. That

459-492: A spirit. But let us suppose that he did, then he would use different food, and using different food, he would not have to eat human food. Not eating human food, he would not ask us for it, and having nothing to ask at the hands of man, he could not give luck or mishap. Lu Jia's ( Chinese : 陸賈 ; pinyin : Lù jiǎ ) (c. 191 BCE) Xinyu ( Chinese : 新語 ; pinyin : Xīnyǔ ) "New Sayings" criticizes bigu among other early Daoist xian transcendental practices. [If

510-715: A transcendent. Campany states, "Few narratives more succinctly summarize the argument that ordinary foods or "grains" block the path to transcendence." Ge Hong 's (3rd century) Shenxian zhuan gives a different version – including the Hairy Woman's name of Yu Qiang and not mentioning her being captured or fed grains. According to Daoist tradition, the Qin dynasty transcendent Han Zhong (fl. 215–210 BCE) ate Acorus calamus (sweet flag) for thirteen years and developed thick body hair that protected him from cold in winter. Two chapters of Wang Chong 's (c. 80 CE) Lunheng criticize

561-420: Is a variant Chinese character for bi 避 "avoid; shun; evade; keep away" (e.g., bixie 辟邪 or 避邪 "ward off evil spirits; talisman; amulet"). The alternate pronunciation of pi 辟 "open up; develop; refute; eliminate" is a variant character for 闢 . The complex 14-stroke traditional Chinese character gu 穀 "grain" has a 7-stroke simplified Chinese character gu 谷 "valley; gorge." Although

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612-560: Is another mistake. Eating and drinking are natural impulses, with which we are endowed at birth. Hence, the upper part of the body has a mouth and teeth, the inferior part orifices. With the mouth and teeth one chews and eats, the orifices are for the discharge. Keeping in accord with one's nature, one follows the law of heaven, going against it, one violates one's natural propensities, and neglects one's natural spirit before heaven. How can one obtain long life in this way? The Lunheng "Meaning of Sacrifice" chapter mentions juegu in criticizing

663-571: Is as brief as the passing of a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall. Why should you punish yourself like this?" Zhang "had no other recourse but to listen to her advice and begin eating again. Eight years later he died." Based upon this account (which is also found in the Lunheng ), Campany concludes that by the late 2nd and 1st centuries BCE, "the idea that some practitioners were abstaining from grains while practicing methods for consuming, directing, and cultivating qi as alternate nourishment

714-468: Is not right from happening. The (c. 190–220 CE) Xiang'er commentary to the Daodejing contrasts qi -eaters and grain-eaters. Transcendent nobles ( xianshi 仙士 ) differ from the vulgar in that they do not value glory, rank, or wealth. They value only "drawing sustenance from the mother"—that is, [from] their own bodies. In the interior of the body, the "mother" is the stomach, which governs

765-449: The jing 精 "essence" in grains and stars. The vital essence of all things: it is this that brings them to life. It generates the five grains below and becomes the constellated stars above. When flowing amid the heavens and earth, we call it ghostly and numinous. When stored within the chests of human beings, we call them sages. Campany knows of "no text that exalts grains more highly or insists on their importance more strongly than

816-558: The Guanzi ." Compare: "The five grains and the eating of rice are the people's Director of Allotted Lifespans" (i.e., Siming) and "In all cases the five grains are the controllers of all things" (meaning the market price of grains affects all economic values). Liu Xiang's hagiography of Daoist xian , the Liexian Zhuan "Collected Biographies of Immortals", tells the famous "Hairy Woman" legend in terms of grain avoidance. During

867-583: The Liji uses cooking food and eating grains to culturally classify the Chinese "Middle Kingdom" bordered by the "Four Barbarians" (eastern Yi , southern Man , western Rong , and northern Di ). Thus the people of the five regions ... each had their several natures, which they could not be made to alter. Those of the east were called Yi; they wore their hair unbound and tattooed their bodies, and some of them ate their food without cooking it. [The people of]

918-635: The New Prefaces ( 新 序 , Xinxu ), the Garden of Stories ( 說 苑 , Shuoyuan ), and the Biographies of Exemplary Women ( Lienüzhuan ). He has long erroneously been credited with compiling the Biographies of the Immortals ( Liexian Zhuan ), a collection of Taoist hagiographies and hymns. Liu Xiang was also a poet. He is credited with the " Nine Laments " ( "Jiu Tan" ) that appears in

969-435: The qi of the five viscera. Commoners eat grain, and when the grain is gone, they die. Transcendent nobles eat grain when they have it, and when they do not, they consume qi . The qi returns to the stomach, which is the layered sack of the bowels. Ge Hong 's (c. 320 CE) Baopuzi contains classical discussions of bigu techniques. For instance, chapter 6, "The Meaning of 'Subtle ' " ( 微旨 ), equates grain avoidance with

1020-584: The (c. 139 BCE) Huainanzi uses juegu in a traditional saying: "Now, rejecting study because those who study have faults is like taking one instance of choking to refuse grain and not eat or taking one problem with stumbling to stop walking and not go [anywhere]." About one century later, Liu Xiang 's Shuoyuan Chinese : 說苑 ; pinyin : Shuō yuàn "Garden of Stories" rephrases this simile about choking once and discontinuing grains. Chinese folklore and mythology associated several divinities with agriculture and grains. In ancient times,

1071-537: The Daoists created a "counter-narrative" to justify the idea of grain avoidance. For example, the Confucianist Xunzi and Legalist Hanfeizi describe Suiren as cultural folk hero . In the earliest times ... the people lived on fruit, berries, mussels, and clams – things that sometimes became so rank and fetid that they hurt people's stomachs, and many became sick. Then a sage appeared who created

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1122-645: The Grand Historian (26) mentions bigu in connection with Zhang Liang (262–189 BCE), or the Marquis of Liu, who served as teacher and strategist for Emperor Gaozu of Han (r. 202–195 BCE). Zhang officially requested "to lay aside the affairs of this world, and join the Master of the Red Pine in immortal sport" (referring to Chisongzi ( Chinese : 赤松子 ; pinyin : Chìsōng zǐ )"Master Red Pine",

1173-484: The art of immortality, become over a hundred years old without dying, call them immortals, as the following example will show. At the time of Han Wu Ti there lived a certain Li Shao Chün, who pretended that by sacrificing to the "Hearth" and [ bigu ] abstaining from eating grain he could ward off old age. He saw the emperor, who conferred high honours upon him. This context also mentions Wang Ziquiao 王子僑 ,

1224-420: The borders. When natural or human catastrophes occurred, the peasants could take refuge in non-arable regions of mountains and survive on wild foods other than grains. The sheji ( Chinese : 社稷 ; pinyin : Shèjì ") altars to soil and grain gods" were the ritual center of a Chinese state. Originally, she 社 was the "god of the land" and ji 稷 the "god of the harvest" (cf. Houji above), and

1275-670: The boring of wood to produce fire so as to transform the rank and putrid foods. The people were so delighted by this that they made him ruler of the world and called him the Fire-Drill Man (Suiren 燧人 ). ( Hanfeizi 49) In contrast, the Zhuangzi "Mending Nature" chapter mentions Suiren first in a list of mythic sage-rulers – Fu Xi , Shennong, Yellow Emperor , Tang of Shang , and Yu the Great , traditionally credited with advancing civilization – but depicts them as villains who began

1326-406: The compound sheji "gods of soil and grain" metaphorically means "the state; the nation". The Shiji says establishing a new dynasty required eliminating the sheji altars of the preceding dynasty and erecting one's own. Offerings of grain, liquor (a grain product ), and meat were necessary not only for sheji sacrifices but for ancestral sacrifices . The obligation to feed the ancestral dead

1377-471: The destruction of the primal harmony of the Dao. Campany calls this "the decline of Power and the ever-farther departure from the natural Dao into systems of social constraint and what passes for culture." The ancients, in the midst of chaos, were tranquil together with the whole world. At that time, yin and yang were harmoniously still, ghosts and spirits caused no disturbances; the four seasons came in good time;

1428-639: The extensive imperial library. Liu Gengsheng was born in Xuzhou . Being a distant relative of Liu Bang , the founder of the Han dynasty, he was a member of the ruling dynastic clan (the Liu family ). Liu Xiang's father ranked as a marquess . Liu Xiang's son, Liu Xin , would continue the scholarly tradition of his father and his relative Liu An (the Prince of Huainan). By the beginning of Emperor Yuan 's reign, Liu Xiang

1479-547: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bigu&oldid=1032420295 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Bigu (grain avoidance) The Chinese word bigu compounds bi 辟 "ruler; monarch; avoid; ward off; keep away" and gu 穀 or 谷 "cereal; grain; ( 穀子 ) millet". The bi 辟 meaning in bigu

1530-468: The marrow of the bones of cranes, tortoise-shell ( tu mao ), rhinoceros (horn), and jade, in all more than twenty constituents. One bushel of this grain cost one piece of gold. This was called Huang Ti's cereal method for becoming a holy immortal. The Confucian scholar Liu Xiang (79–8 BCE) edited several classical texts, including the (c. 26 BCE) Guanzi that repeatedly praises grain eating. The first chapter " Neiye " "Inner Training" begins by comparing

1581-532: The myriad things went unharmed; the host of living creatures escaped premature death. ... This condition persisted until integrity deteriorated to the point that Torchman [Suiren] and Fuhsi arose to manage all under heaven, whereupon there was accord, but no longer unity. Integrity further declined until the Divine Farmer and the Yellow Emperor arose to manage all under heaven, whereupon there

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1632-430: The next fifteen years. The succession of Emperor Cheng to the imperial throne was accompanied by a realignment of power among the various factions involved in government, and Liu Xiang was able to revive his official prospects. In 26 BCE, at the command of the emperor, Liu Xiang spent much of the rest of the 20-odd years of his life engaged in the massive bibliographic work of organizing the imperial library. This work

1683-448: The people fed on herbaceous plants and drank [only] water, picked fruit from shrubs and trees and ate the meat of oysters and clams. They frequently suffered tribulations from feverish maladies and injurious poisons. Consequently, the Divine Farmer first taught the people to plant and cultivate the five grains. He evaluated the suitability of the land, [noting] whether it was dry or wet, fertile or barren, high or low. He tried

1734-580: The person was a woman. Upon questioning, she said, "I was originally a woman of the Qin palace. When I heard that invaders from the east had arrived, that the King of Qin would go out and surrender, and that the palace buildings would be burned, I fled in fright into the mountains. Famished, I was on the verge of dying by starvation when an old man taught me to eat the resin and nuts of pines. At first, they were bitter, but gradually I grew accustomed to them. They enabled me to feel neither hunger nor thirst; in winter I

1785-445: The practice of avoiding grains as mistaken. The "Daoist Untruths" chapter uses Li Shao Jun, who "knew some clever maneuvers and some fine tricks, which did not fail to produce a wonderful effect", to exemplify confusing Daoist xian immortality techniques with natural longevity. There are no instances of any one having obtained Tao, but there have been very long-lived persons. People remarking that those persons, while studying Tao and

1836-497: The reign of Emperor Cheng of the Han, hunters in the Zhongnan Mountains saw a person who wore no clothes, his body covered with black hair. Upon seeing this person, the hunters wanted to pursue and capture him, but the person leapt over gullies and valleys as if in flight, and so could not be overtaken. The hunters then stealthily observed where the person dwelled, surrounded and captured him, whereupon they determined that

1887-588: The south were called Man; they tattooed their foreheads and had their feet turned in toward each other, and some among them ate their food without cooking it. [The people of] the west were called Rong; they wore their hair unbound and wore skins, and some of them did not eat grain. [The people of] the north were called Di; they wore feathers and furs and lived in caves, and some of them did not eat grain. Kwang-chih Chang interprets this Liji context to mean, "One could eat grain but also eat raw meat or one could eat his meat cooked but eat no grain. Neither

1938-596: The square-earth round-heaven model from Chinese cosmography and fengshui , "Those who eat grain eat what is square; those who eat qi eat what is round. Round is heaven; square is earth." The (139 BCE) Huainanzi chapter on topography (4) correlates diet and lifespan. "Those that feed on flesh are brave and daring but are cruel. Those that feed on qi [attain] spirit illumination and are long-lived. Those that feed on grain are knowledgeable and clever but short-lived. Those that do not feed on anything do not die and are spirits." Sima Qian 's (c. 91 BCE) Records of

1989-524: The supernatural abilities of a xian transcendent. Liu Xiang (scholar) Liu Xiang (77–6   BCE ), born Liu Gengsheng and bearing the courtesy name Zizheng , was a Chinese astronomer, historian, librarian, poet, politician, and writer of the Western Han dynasty . Among his polymathic scholarly specialties were history, literary bibliography, and astronomy. He is particularly well known for his bibliographic work in cataloging and editing

2040-402: The taste and flavor of the one hundred plants and the sweetness or bitterness of the streams and springs, issuing directives so the people would know what to avoid and what to accept. At the time [he was doing this], he suffered poisoning [as many as] seventy times a day. (19) While traditional Chinese mythology depicted cooking and agriculture as key elements of civilization,

2091-440: The tradition of presenting food and wine sacrifices to ancestral spirits. The votaries of Taoism studying the art of immortality abstain from eating cereals and take other food than other people with a view to purifying themselves. Ghosts and spirits, however, are still more ethereal than immortals, why then should they use the same food as man? One assumes that after death man loses his consciousness, and that his soul cannot become

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2142-509: Was a member of a group of Confucian officials, including Xiao Wangzhi, who wished to limit the power of the emperor's female family members relatives' clans , the Shi and the Xu. He ended up on the losing side of a power struggle between the powerful eunuch's Hong Gong and Shi Xian. Briefly imprisoned, Liu Xiang was terminated from his official position, and he received no new appointments to the office for

2193-662: Was assisted by his son, Liu Xin, who finally completed the task after his father's death. Liu compiled the first catalogue of the imperial library, the Abstracts ( 別 錄 , Bielu ), and is the first known editor of the Classic of Mountains and Seas ( Shanhaijing ), which was finished by his son. Liu also edited collections of stories and biographies, including the Strategies of the Warring States ( Zhanguoce ),

2244-503: Was discovered in 1973 among the Mawangdui Silk Texts , is the oldest documented grain-avoidance diet. This Chinese medical manual outlines a method for replacing grains with qi circulations, and consuming medicinal herbs, notably the fern shiwei ( Chinese : 石韋 ; pinyin : Shí wéi ) " Pyrrosia lingua " as a diuretic to treat urine retention resulting from eliminating grains. This text dichotomizes diets with

2295-451: Was fully Chinese. A Chinese by definition ate grain and cooked his meat." During the first dynasties of the Qin and Han, when Daoism simultaneously became a mass movement, Chinese agricultural techniques were revolutionized. Applying methods from the (256 BCE) Dujiangyan Irrigation System , arable land was converted into rice fields, with two or more harvests annually, resulting in widespread deforestation. The nong 農 "peasant; farmer"

2346-560: Was fundamental to Chinese society. Campany summarizes the cultural importance of sacrificing "grains" to feed both natural and ancestral spirits. Grain was, in short, a symbol and summation of culture itself, or rather of nature acculturated, as well as of the completely human community. A natural locus of nutritive "essence" ( jing ), grain nevertheless required cooperative, communal and differentiated stages of production—planting, tending, harvesting, storing, thrashing, milling, mixing, and cooking—to be transformed into food. Thus transformed, it

2397-610: Was not cold, in summer I was not hot." Calculation showed that the woman, having been a member of the Qin King Ziying 's harem, must be more than two hundred years old in the present time of Emperor Cheng. The hunters took the woman back in. They offered her grain to eat. When she first smelled the stink of the grain, she vomited, and only after several days could she tolerate it. After little more than two years of this [diet], her body hair fell out; she turned old and died. Had she not been caught by men, she would have become

2448-554: Was perhaps the most culturally celebrated food of humans (both living and dead) and of gods. The Chinese character for jing ( Chinese : 精 ; pinyin : Jīng ) The first textual references to "avoiding grains/cereals" are found in Chinese classics from the Warring States period (475–221 BCE), Qin dynasty (221–206 BCE), and Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE). A (c. 3rd century BCE) Zhuangzi chapter describes

2499-411: Was repose, but no longer accord. Integrity declined still further until T'ang and Yu arose to manage all under heaven. They initiated the fashion of governing by transformation, whereby purity was diluted and simplicity dissipated. The traditional Chinese symbol for civilization and state was gu "grains; cereals" (a synecdoche for "agricultural products"). The Wangzhi "Royal Regulations" chapter of

2550-609: Was second-highest of the Four Occupations under the traditional Chinese feudal system . Kristofer Schipper says, The peasants depended entirely on agriculture and were forever tied to their land through all kinds of fiscal and administrative measures. As a result, the rural communities became an easy prey to all the ills of sedentary civilization: ever-higher taxes, enslavement to the government through corvée labor and military draft, epidemics, periodic shortages and famines, and wars and raids by non-Chinese tribes from across

2601-434: Was ubiquitous and commonplace." The (c. 111 CE) Book of Han mentions bigu in context with the fangshi "alchemist; magician" Li Shaojun teaching Emperor Wu of Han (r. 141–87 BCE) a "method of worshipping the furnace and abstaining from cereals to prevent old age". Since grains were cooked on the stove, in raw/cooked logic, grain avoidance was traditionally linked with worship of Zaoshen 灶神 The Stove God . In

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