Sun Simiao on Yangxing
Originally published on June 15, 2020
Here is a beautiful excerpt from the end of the preface in Sūn Sīmiǎo’s Bèijí qiānjīn yàofāng 備急千金要方 vol 27 that I simply have to share. Most of you are probably familiar with the general sentiment, but this really brings it home, I think. Good advice for right now…..
抱朴子曰：一人之身，一國之象也。胸腹之位，猶宮室也；四肢之列，猶郊境也；骨節之分，猶百官也。神猶君也，血猶臣也，氣猶民也，知治身則能治國也。
夫愛其民，所以安其國；惜其氣，所以全其身。民散則國亡，氣竭則身死。死者不可生也，亡者不可存也。
是以至人消未起之患，治未病之疾，醫之於無事之前，不追於既逝之後。
夫人難養而易危也，氣難清而易濁也，故能審威德所以保社稷，割嗜欲所以固血氣，然後真一存焉，三一守焉，百病卻焉，年壽延焉。
The Master Embracing Simplicity (Bàopúzi)[1] said: The human body is the image of a country. The position of the chest and abdomen is just like the palace buildings. The array of the four limbs is just like the suburbs and outlying territories. The division of the bones and joints is just like the hundred offices. The spirit is just like the ruler, the blood is just like the ministers, and the Qì is just like the common people. When you know how to put the body in good order, you are able to put the country in good order.
Now, loving his people enables [a ruler] to thereby make his country peaceful and safe. Cherishing our Qì thereby enables us to keep our body complete. When the people are scattered, the country perishes. When the Qì runs dry, the body dies. Once [the body] has died, it cannot be revived, and once [the country] has perished, it cannot be preserved.
For this reason, the Accomplished Person dispels trouble before it arises and restores order to an illness before it has become a disease. For medicine to take place in advance of affairs is as important as not chasing in the aftermath of what has already passed away.
Now, it is difficult for humans to nurture but easy to imperil, as it is difficult for Qì to be clear but easy to be turbid. Only when we are able to fully know our awe-inspiring virtue-power in order to protect the spirits of the earth and of the grain, and when we are able to sever our desires in order to secure the blood and Qì, only then will the True One be preserved therein, will the Three Ones[2] be safeguarded therein, will the hundred diseases turned back therein, and will longevity be extended therein.
[1] The pen name of the famous Daoist, alchemist, and medical author Gé Hóng (282-343 CE) as well as the title of his book.
[2] Depending on context, the “Three Ones” can refer to different sets of sacred trinities, like the Masculine One, the Feminine One, and the August One; the three divinities of the Heavenly One, the Earthly One, and the Supreme One; or, as Chinese medicine practitioners know, Essence, Spirit, and Qì.
