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Anqi Sheng
Anqi Sheng () was a Chinese immortal and wizard, said to be already over 1,000 years old at the time of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor. He was said to inhabit Mount Penglai. Anqi was said to have been a Taoist wizard, able to render himself visible or invisible at his pleasure. According to the Taoist hagiography ''Liexian Zhuan'', Qin Shi Huang spoke with him for three entire days (including nights), and offered Anqi jade and gold. Qin Shi Huang feared death, and sought immortality, without success. In 219 BC, he sent an expedition under Xu Fu to find Anqi and to bring him back, along with the elixir of life, which grants immortality or eternal youth. When Xu Fu reported that a sea creature blocked the expedition's path, Qin Shi Huang sent archers to kill it. In 210 BC, Xu Fu continued his journey. Legend says he found Japan instead, proclaimed himself king, and never returned. The ''Records of the Grand Historian'' state that Li Shaojun visited Anqi Sheng during his travels. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Records Of The Grand Historian
''Records of the Grand Historian'', also known by its Chinese name ''Shiji'', is a monumental history of China that is the first of China's 24 dynastic histories. The ''Records'' was written in the early 1st century by the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian, whose father Sima Tan had begun it several decades earlier. The work covers a 2,500-year period from the age of the legendary Yellow Emperor to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han in the author's own time, and describes the world as it was known to the Chinese of the Western Han dynasty. The ''Records'' has been called a "foundational text in Chinese civilization". After Confucius and the First Emperor of Qin, "Sima Qian was one of the creators of Imperial China, not least because by providing definitive biographies, he virtually created the two earlier figures." The ''Records'' set the model for all subsequent dynastic histories of China. In contrast to Western historical works, the ''Records'' do not treat history as "a cont ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elixir Of Life
The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. History Ancient Mesopotamia An early mention of an elixir of life is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (from the 2nd millennium BC) in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu. He seeks out Utnapishtim, a Noah-like figure in Mesopotamian mythology in which he was a servant of the great Alchemist of the rain who later became immortal, to seek out the advice of the King of Herod of the Land of Fire. Gilgamesh is directed by him to find a plant at the bottom of the sea which he does but seeks first to test it on an old man before trying it himself. Unfortunately, it is eaten by a serpent before he can do so. China Many rulers of ancient China so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waidan
, translated as 'external alchemy' or 'external elixir', is the early branch of Chinese alchemy that focuses upon compounding elixirs of immortality by heating minerals, metals, and other natural substances in a luted crucible. The later branch of esoteric ''neidan'' 'inner alchemy', which borrowed doctrines and vocabulary from exoteric , is based on allegorically producing elixirs within the practitioner's body, through Daoist meditation, diet, and physiological practices. The practice of external alchemy originated in the early Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), grew in popularity until the Tang (618–907) when began and several emperors died from alchemical elixir poisoning, and gradually declined until the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). Terminology The Chinese compound combines the common word 'outside; exterior; external' with 'cinnabar; vermillion; elixir; alchemy'. The antonym of is meaning 'inside; inner; internal', and the term 'external elixir/alchemy' was co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maming Sheng
Maming Sheng (馬鳴生, "Master Horse-neigh", fl. c. 100 CE) was a legendary Han dynasty Taoist alchemist and ''Xian'' ("transcendent; immortal"). He was a disciple of the transcendent and ''fangshi'' ("master of methods") Anqi Sheng, who transmitted a secret ''waidan'' external alchemical scripture to him. Maming refined this elixir of immortality, but rather than take a full dose and immediately ascend to heaven, he only took half and lived for over 500 years as a secret ''dìxiān'' (地仙, "earthbound transcendent"). Master Horse-neigh was a key figure in the Taoist Taiqing (太清, Grand Purity) alchemical tradition. Furthermore, in Chinese Buddhism, ''Maming'' (馬鳴, "Horse-neigh") translates the name of the 2nd-century CE Indian Buddhist monk and polymath Aśvaghoṣa (from Sanskrit ''áśva'' अश्व, "horse" and ''ghoṣa'' घोष, "cry; sound"), so-called because when teaching the Dharma his words were intelligible even to animals. Names The Chinese appellation ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shangqing School
The Shangqing School (Chinese:上清派), also known as Supreme Clarity or Highest Clarity is a Taoist movement that began during the aristocracy of the Western Jin dynasty. Shangqing can be translated as either 'Supreme Clarity' or 'Highest Clarity.' The first leader of the school was a lady, Wei Huacun (251-334). According to her Shangqing hagiographers, her devotion to Taoist cultivation so impressed a number of immortals that she received revelations from them - 31 volumes of Taoist scriptures, which would become the foundation of Shangqing Taoism. Later, Tao Hongjing, a man, (Chinese: 陶弘景) (456－536) structured the theory and practice and compiled the Taoist Canon. He greatly contributed to the development of the school that took place near the end of the 5th century. The mountain near Nanjing where Tao Hongjing had his retreat, Maoshan (茅山 – fr), today remains the principal seat of the school. Shangqing practice values meditation techniques of visualization and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Wu Of Han
Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign lasted 54 years – a record not broken until the reign of the Kangxi Emperor more than 1,800 years later and remains the record for ethnic Chinese emperors. His reign resulted in a vast expansion of geopolitical influence for the Chinese civilization, and the development of a strong centralized state via governmental policies, economical reorganization and promotion of a hybrid Legalist–Confucian doctrine. In the field of historical social and cultural studies, Emperor Wu is known for his religious innovations and patronage of the poetic and musical arts, including development of the Imperial Music Bureau into a prestigious entity. It was also during his reign that cultural contact with western Eurasia was greatly increased, directly a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Li Shaojun
Li Shaojun ({{zh, c=李少君, w=Li Shao-chün, fl. 133 BCE) was a ''fangshi'' (master of esoterica), reputed ''xian'' (transcendent; immortal), retainer of Emperor Wu of Han, and the earliest known Chinese alchemist. In the early history of Chinese ''waidan'' (External Alchemy), Li is the only ''fangshi'' whose role is documented by both historical (for instance, ''Shiji'') and alchemical (''Baopuzi'') sources. Shiji The earliest record of Li Shaojun was contemporaneously written during the reign of his patron Emperor Wu (141-87 BCE): Sima Qian's c. 94 BCE ''Shiji'' (Records of the Historian) has nearly identical versions in the "Annals of Emperor Wu" (chapter 6) and "The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices" (28, tr. Watson 1961: 3-52). In addition, the c. 111 CE ''Hanshu'' "Book of Han" (25A) has a "closely parallel" version (Campany 2006: 325). The ''Shiji'' chronicles Li Shaojun as part of a lengthy debate on whether and how Emperor Wu should perform the ''Feng'' (封) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north toward the East China Sea, Philippine Sea, and Taiwan in the south. Japan is a part of the Ring of Fire, and spans Japanese archipelago, an archipelago of List of islands of Japan, 6852 islands covering ; the five main islands are Hokkaido, Honshu (the "mainland"), Shikoku, Kyushu, and Okinawa Island, Okinawa. Tokyo is the Capital of Japan, nation's capital and largest city, followed by Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Kobe, and Kyoto. Japan is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eleventh most populous country in the world, as well as one of the List of countries and dependencies by population density, most densely populated and Urbanization by country, urbanized. About three-fourths of Geography of Japan, the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xian (Taoism)
''Xian'' () refers to a person or similar entity having a long life or being immortal. The concept of ''xian'' has different implications dependent upon the specific context: philosophical, religious, mythological, or other symbolic or cultural occurrence. The Chinese word ''xian'' is translatable into English as: * (''in Daoist philosophy and cosmology'') spiritually immortal; transcendent human; celestial being * (''in Daoist religion and pantheon'') physically immortal; immortal person; an immortal; saint * (''in Chinese alchemy'') alchemist; one who seeks the elixir of life; one who practices longevity techniques ** (''or by extension'') alchemical, dietary, or qigong methods for attaining immortality * (''in Chinese mythology'') wizard; magician; shaman; sorcerer * (''in popular Chinese literature'') genie; elf, fairy; nymph; (''xian jing'' is fairyland, faery) * (''based on the folk etymology for the character , a compound of the characters for ''person'' and ''mountain ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elixir Of Life
The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth. This elixir was also said to cure all diseases. Alchemists in various ages and cultures sought the means of formulating the elixir. History Ancient Mesopotamia An early mention of an elixir of life is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (from the 2nd millennium BC) in which Gilgamesh comes to fear his own declining years following the death of his beloved companion Enkidu. He seeks out Utnapishtim, a Noah-like figure in Mesopotamian mythology in which he was a servant of the great Alchemist of the rain who later became immortal, to seek out the advice of the King of Herod of the Land of Fire. Gilgamesh is directed by him to find a plant at the bottom of the sea which he does but seeks first to test it on an old man before trying it himself. Unfortunately, it is eaten by a serpent before he can do so. China Many rulers of ancient China so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Xu Fu
Xu Fu (Hsu Fu; ) was a Chinese alchemist and explorer. He was born in 255 BC in Qi, an ancient Chinese state, and disappeared at sea in 210 BC. He served as a court sorcerer in Qin Dynasty China. Later, he was sent by Qin Shi Huang to the eastern seas twice to look for the elixir of life.Lee, Khoon Choy Lee. Choy, Lee K. 995(1995). Japan--between Myth and Reality: Between Myth and Reality. World Scientific publishing. , . His two journeys occurred between 219 BC and 210 BC. It was believed that the fleet included 60 barques with soldiers, ship crewmen, and 3,000 boys and 3,000 girls, and craftsmen of different fields. After he embarked on a second mission in 210 BC, he never returned.Liu, Hong. The Chinese Overseas: Routledge Library of Modern China. Published by Taylor & Francis, 006(2006). , 9780415338592. Voyage The ruler of Qin Dynasty, Qin Shi Huang, feared death and sought a way to live forever. He entrusted Xu Fu with the task of finding the secret elixir of immortali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
