Cold-Food Powder

Cold-Food Powder () or Five Minerals Powder () was a poisonous psychoactive drug popular during the Six Dynasties (220–589) and Tang dynasty (618–907) periods of China.

Terminology

Both Chinese names ''hanshisan'' and ''wushisan'' have the suffix ''-san'' (, lit. "fall apart; scattered"), which means "medicine in powdered form" in Traditional Chinese medicine. ''Wushi'' (lit. "five rock") refers to the component mineral drugs, typically: fluorite, quartz, red bole clay, stalactite, and sulfur. ''Hanshi'' (lit. "cold food") refers to eating cold foods and bathing in cold water to counteract the drug-induced hyperthermia produced by the pyretic powder. ''Hanshi'' can also refer to the traditional Chinese holiday ''Hanshi jie'' ( "Cold Food Festival"), three days in early April when lighting a fire is prohibited and only cold foods are eaten.

''Xingsan'' (, lit. "walk powder"), meaning "walking after having taken a powder" (compare walk off), was a therapeutic practice believed to circulate poisonous inorganic drug throughout the body, thus enhancing the psychoactive effects and preventing side effects. Mather claims the practice of ''xingsan'' "to walk a powder" was adopted from Xian Daoism, the "Immortality Cult" of the late Han period.

Although some authors transliterate the Chinese terms and (e.g., ''han-shih san''), many translate them. Compare these renderings of ''wushisan'' and/or ''hanshisan'':
*powder of the five minerals & swallowed-cold powder
*five-mineral powder & cold-food powder
*Five-Stone Powder & Eat-Cold Powder
*Five-mineral-powder
*Five minerals powder & Powder to take with cold food
*Cold Food powder
*five-mineral-powder
*cold eating powder
*Cold Food Powder
*Five Minerals Powder & Cold-Food Powder
*Cold-Food Powder
Minor differences in capitalization and hyphenation generally account for these English variants.

History

Five Minerals Powder was used medicinally in the 2nd century BCE, became a popular recreational entheogen and stimulant, known as Cold-Food Powder, among prominent counterculture literati during the 3rd century, and was deemed immoral and condemned after the 10th century.

Han dynasty

Texts from the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) refer to using the ''Wushi'' Five Minerals to cure fevers and to prolong life.

The (109–91 BCE) ''Shiji'' biography of the physician Chunyu Yi (, c. 216–147 BCE) contains the earliest Five Minerals reference, according to Joseph Needham, the eminent British historian of science and technology in China.
This history includes 25 case reports by Chunyu, including one in which he treated a Dr. Sui () for poisoning around 160 BCE.

Sui, the Physician-in-waiting to the Prince of i fell ill. He had himself made preparations of the Five Minerals and had consumed them []. Your servant therefore went to visit him, and he said 'I am unworthy and have some disease; would you be so kind as to examine me?' So I did, and then addressed him in these terms: 'Your malady is a fever []. The ''Discussions'' say that when there is a central fever along with obstipation and suppression of urine one must not ingest the Five Minerals. Mineral substances considered as drugs are fierce and potent, and it is because of having taken them that you have several times failed to evacuate. They ought not to be hastily taken. Judging by the colour, an abscess is forming.' … I warned him that after a hundred days or more an abscess would gather above the pectoral region, that it would penetrate (the flesh by) the collar-bone, and that he would die. ()

Needham describes this pharmaceutical use of the Five Minerals "the first well-documented evidence of the taking of inorganic substances" in China.

The (c. 1st century BCE) ''Liexian Zhuan'' biography of the legendary Zhou dynasty (c. 1046–256 BCE) Daoist ''xian'' "immortal" or "transcendent" Qiong Shu () mentions the Five Minerals. It says Qiong, who was called ''Shizhongru'' (, lit. "stone bell milk", "stalactite"), roasted and ate stalactites (), slept on a stone bed, and lived for several hundred years on Mount Song. Qiong obtained the Eight Delicious Foods and Five Minerals, which all provide longevity, and refined their essences into dumplings. A person can thus live to be one hundred, have a light body, sleep among mountain peaks, and wander with the Daoist immortals. []

The Han scholar and alchemist Zheng Xuan (127–200) specified that to make ''hanshisan'', the medically active minerals chalcanthite (''shidan''), cinnabar (''dansha'', red mercury sulphide), realgar (the arsenic sulphide ''xionghuang'' or ''xiongshi'') and magnetite (''cishi'') should be enclosed in an earthen receptacle, continuously heated over three days. The drug obtained from the concoction could then be applied to the affected areas of the sick body.

Six Dynasties

The historical term "Six Dynasties" collectively refers to the Three Kingdoms (220–280), Jin dynasty (266–420), and Southern and Northern Dynasties (420–589). Sources from this period of disunity after the fall of the Han describe both medicinal and recreational uses of Five Mineral Powder or Cold Food Powder.

The Three Kingdoms scholar and doctor Huangfu Mi (215–282) took this "ecstasy-inducing drug" to recover from a stroke, but suffered and likely died from the deleterious side effects. His ''Lun Hanshisan fang'' ( "On the Recipe for Cold-Food Powder"; Cao Xi wrote another book with the same title) records his disastrous self-medication that resulted in "pain and a general numbness and weakness of the body". Huangfu said, "The longest one can hope to live when taking the drug is ten years or so; for some, it is only five or six. Even though I myself can still see and breathe, my words resemble the loud laugh of someone who is presently drowning."

The ''Book of Jin'' says that Huangfu Mi used ''hanshisan'' poisoning as an excuse to decline a position offered by Emperor Wu (r. 265–290). The Cold Food Powder "disagreed with his nature and each time he was convulsed with excruciating pain. Once in a rage of suffering he prayed for a sword with which to kill himself, but his aunt remonstrated with him and made him stop." Huangfu said that the vogue for consuming Cold-Food Powder began with the Cao Wei state (220–265) scholar and politician He Yan (c. 195–249), who used the drug to achieve greater spiritual clarity and physical strength. He Yan and his friend Wang Bi (226–249), co-founders of the Daoist Xuanxue School, propagated the consumption of the drug in their philosophical circles. The French sinologist Paul Demiéville's described He Yan: "He was reckoned a paragon of beauty, elegance, and refinement, a floating flower (''fou-hua'') as his enemies used to say, or a dandy. He "loved Lao-Huang" and shone in " pure conversation." His lack of constraint brought down on him the ill-will of the orthodox traditionalists. He is even said to have brought into fashion a drug that brought on a state of ecstasy, and many of his friends and epigones were drug addicts."

Many other famous literati, such as the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, especially the musician Ruan Ji (210–263), the alchemist Ji Kang (223–262), and the calligrapher Wang Xizhi (c. 303–361), reportedly were enthusiastic users of the drug. "Like an indulgent lifestyle of alcoholic excesses, the use of this drug became the hallmark of the free thinkers of the age". Livia Kohn describes Ruan Ji's artistic expression,

His friends and fellow poets induced ecstatic experiences through music, wine, and drugs, especially the notorious Cold Food Powder which created psychedelic states and made the body feel very hot, causing people to take off their clothes and jump into pools. When back in their ordinary selves, they wrote poetry of freedom and escape, applying the ''Zhuangzi'' concept of free and easy wandering in the sense of getting away from it all and continuing the text's tradition in their desperate search for a better world within.

The extant calligraphic writings attributed to Wang Xizhi mention taking ''hanshisan'', for instance, two letters to his friend Zhou Fu (, d. 365), Regional Inspector of Yizhou prefecture. A thank-you note requests Zhou to send ''rongyan'' ( "rock salt"), "Turkestan salt is another thing I require. I need it when I take Cold-Food Powder."; and a lament over their 26-year separation says, "Of late, I have been missing you more than I can say. I have been taking Cold-Food Powder for a long time, but I am still weak."

The Jin dynasty Daoist scholar Ge Hong's (c. 320) '' Baopuzi'' (" ook of theMaster Who Embraces Simplicity") contains invaluable details about the drug powders. Three of the esoteric "Inner Chapters" (1–20) refer to taking Cold-Food Powder, and using the Five Minerals to make ''waidan'' "external alchemy" miracle elixirs and magic daggers. One of the exoteric "Outer Chapters" (21–52) criticizes using Five Minerals Powder during mourning.

"The Genie's Pharmacopeia" (chap. 11) compares jade and Cold-Food Powder as drugs that can cause fevers.

Whether taken in small fragments or liquefied and sipped, jade renders man immortal. It is inferior to gold, however, in that it frequently causes fever, for it resembles ''han-shih-san''. When jade is taken in small fragments, a spatula of both realgar and cinnabar should be taken once every ten days. Then you will not run a fever when traveling against the wind after you have taken down your hair, washed it, and bathed.

Compare Sailey's translation that after taking the drug one "loosens his hair and takes a bath: aving usedcold water, he welcomes the breeze and goes walking. Thus he does not get a fever."

Two other ''Baopuzi'' Inner Chapters mention ''wushi''. First, "Gold and Cinnabar" (chap. 4) has several references. The Five Minerals are used to produce the ''Jiuguangdan'' (九光丹) elixir that will supposedly raise the dead.

There is also the Ninefold Radiance Elixir, which uses a method similar but not quite like that of the Nine-Cycle Elixir. Various ingredients are mixed and fired separately with each of the five minerals, cinnabar, realgar, arsenolite, laminar malachite, and magnetite []. Each mineral is put through five cycles and assumes five hues, so that altogether twenty-five hues result. Separate containers are each filled with one ounce of each hue. If you wish to raise a body that has not been dead for fully three days, bathe the corpse with a solution of one spatula of the blue elixir, open its mouth, and insert another spatula full; it will revive immediately.

The Five Minerals are also ingredients for making: "T'ai-I's elixir for Summoning Gross and Ethereal Breaths" () that can revive a corpse up to four days after death, as well as "Mo Ti's elixir" (), "Ch'i-li's elixir" (), and "Duke Li's elixir" () that cure one's illnesses and, if taken over a long period, make one immortal.

Second, "Into Mountains: Over Streams" (chap. 17) tells how to make a Five Minerals protective charm that will ensure water-travel safety.

''Chin chien chi'' [] reads; "At noon on the ''ping-wu'' day of a fifth moon pestle the Five Minerals to a mixture. The Five Minerals are realgar, cinnabar, orpiment, alum, and laminar malachite []. When they have all been reduced to a powder, wash it in 'Gold Flower' solvent and place in a Six-One crucible, heat over cinnamon wood using a bellows. When this mixture has been completed, refine it with hardwood charcoal, having young girls and boys approach the fire. With a male mixture, make a male dagger; with a female one, make a female dagger, each of them 5.5 inches long. (Earth's number, 5, is used in order to suppress the stream's powers.) Wear these daggers when traveling on water, and no crocodiles, dragons, large fish, or water gods will dare approach you."

Compared with the previous ''Baopuzi'' list of the Five Minerals, this one replaces "arsenolite" () with "orpiment" () and "magnetite" () with the logographically similar "alum" ().

One Outer Chapter, "Censuring Muddle-headedness" (chap. 26), abbreviates ''wushisan'' as ''shisan'' () in criticizing mourners who use the drug.

I have also heard that noblemen, when in the 'great sorrow' ourning a parent's death or when they take '' u-hih-san'', have several meals o get the drug to circulate in the body People drink great amounts of wine as if one's life depended upon it. When their illness has reached the crisis stage, they cannot endure the wind and the cold rom the fever … "It gets to the point where they become very drunk. They say, 'This is the custom in the capital, Loyang.' Is this not a sad thing?

Ge Hong's friend Ji Han ( c. 262–306) wrote a '' fu'' "rhapsody; poetic exposition" on Cold-Food Powder, which claims "it cured his ailing son when other treatments had failed".

The (554) ''Book of Wei'' records that both the Northern Wei emperors Daowu (r. 386–409) and Mingyuan (r. 409–423) often took Cold-Food Powder, and "In the end, they were 'unable to handle state affairs' and eventually died of elixir poisoning." Wagner noted that the Northern Wei "barbarian" rulers regarded the drug as a "status symbol."

The Liu Song dynasty (420–479) ''A New Account of the Tales of the World'' (''Shishuo xinyu'' ), compiled by Liu Yiqing (, 403–444), contains contemporary references to using the drug. The text uses ''xingsan'' four times, ''wushisan'' once, ''fusan'' ( "take powder") once, and has two references to harmful side effects.

The ''Shishuo xinyu'' only directly refers to ''wushisan'' in quoting He Yan (see above), "Whenever I take a five-mineral powder, not only does it heal any illness I may have, but I am also aware of my spirit and intelligence becoming receptive and lucid" []. The commentary of Liu Xun (, 462–521) explains,

Although the prescription for the cold-food powder (''han-shih san'') originated during the Han period, its users were few and there are no accounts handed down concerning them. It was the Wei president of the Board of Civil Office, Ho Yen, who first discovered its divine properties, and from his time on it enjoyed a wide currency in the world, and those who used it sought each other out.

Two contexts refer to Wang Chen (, d. 392), son of the Eastern Jin official Wang Tanzhi. First, Wang Chen enjoyed taking ''wushisan'' with his lifelong friend Wang Gong (, d. 398), brother of Jin dynasty Empress Wang Fahui.

Wang Kung was at first extremely fond of Wang Ch'en, but later, encountering the alienation of Yüan Yüeh, the two eventually became mutually suspicious and estranged. However, whenever either of them came upon any exhilarating experience, there would unavoidably be times when they missed each other. Kung was once walking after having taken a powder (''hsing-san''), on the way to the archery hall at Ching-k'ou (near Chien-k'ang). At the time the clear dewdrops were gleaming in the early morning light, and the new leaves of the paulownia were just beginning to unfold. Kung looked at them and said, "Wang Ch'en is surely and unmistakably as clear and shining as these!"

Keith McMahon cites the Wangs' ''wushisan'' camaraderie as a historical analogy for 19th-century opium addicts.

In one old anecdote, two fourth-century friends of considerable status think fondly of each other whenever they have a euphoric experience. One of the friends takes the powder and, coming upon a beautiful scene, immediately thinks of the brilliance of his absent friend. It was not necessarily that individuals took the powder together at the same time, but that people of like interests and status enjoyed the special effects of this drug and did so without embarrassment or sense of shameful indulgence.

Second, when Huan Xuan was summoned to the capital in 387 to serve the crown prince Sima Dezong, his friend Wang Chen came to visit,and was "slightly drunk after having taken a powder 'fusan'' ... Huan set out wine for him, but since he was unable to drink it cold (because of the powder), Huan unthinkingly said to his attendants, 'Have them warm (''wen'') the wine and bring it back.' After doing so, he burst into tears and cried out, choking with grief." The commentary explains that Huan, who tended to be overemotional, violated the Chinese naming taboo of his deceased father Huan Wen () when he said ''wen'' ( "warm").

Two ''Shishuo xinyu'' contexts mention medical problems that commentators identify as ''wushisan'' side effects. When Yin Ji (, d. 397—"apparently from an overdose of drugs") learned his cousin Yin Zhongkan () was plotting a coup, he refused to participate, took ''wushisan'', and walked away in resignation from his post. "When Yin Chi's illness became critical 'bingkun'' when he looked at a person, he only saw half of his face", citing Yu Jixia that "temporary impairment of vision" was one harmful effect. When Bian Fanzhi () was capital intendant for Huan Xuan in 402, his friend Yang Fu (, c. 373–403) sought help for a bad reaction to ''wushisan''. Yang went to Bian's house and said, "My illness is acting up 'zhidong'' and I can't endure sitting up." Bian had him lie down on a large bed, and "sat keeping vigil by his side from morning until evening."

Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty (618–908) era was the final heyday for Cold-Food Powder drug users. According to Sun Simiao's (c. 670) ''Qianjin yifang'' ( "Supplement to the thousand Golden Remedies", the powder "contained five mineral drugs — fluorite, quartz, red bole clay, stalactite and sulfur, one animal drug, and nine plant drugs. It was claimed to be effective in curing many diseases and in increasing vitality, but was also said to have several side effects."

Needham and Lu refer to Sun's prescriptions for ''wushisan'' and ''hanshisan'' ("powder of the five minerals" and "swallowed-cold powder"), as well as ''wushi gengsheng san'' ( "five minerals resurrection powder"), and ''wushi huming san'' ( " five minerals life-preserving powder"), "all to be used in cases of sexual debility". Sun Simiao attributed one formula, the ''cishi hanshisan'' ( "purple mineral cold powder") to the Han dynasty doctor Zhang Zhongjing, and remarked, "There have also been those who have acquired an addiction to the Five-Mineral preparations on account of their avidity for the pleasures of the bedchamber", namely Daoist sexual practices. They conclude, "China was certainly not the only civilisation to believe that arsenic had aphrodisiac properties; such a view long prevailed in the West." Needham and Lu quote Fan Xingjun () on historical developments in Chinese aphrodisiacs.

The ancients of Chou and Han times, he said, relied upon perfumes (''hsiang''), wine and beguilements (''chiu'', ''yu huo''); in Chin and Northern Wei the mineral mixtures (such as ''Han Shih San'') were famous; Thang and Northern Sung people consumed especially the alchemical elixirs (''chin tan''), generally mercurial and often doubtless arsenical. Then in the Southern Sung came the regular isolation of mixtures of steroid sex hormones (''chiu shih'', ''hung chhien''), much used in Yuan and Ming, while the Chhing afterwards succumbed to opium (''yaphien'').

While Chinese historians have traditionally believed the practice of consuming ''hanshisan'' persisted into the Tang dynasty and almost disappeared afterwards, Obringer thinks, "it may be more accurate to say that the name of the drug has been eclipsed, but not the habit of taking it." Evidencing the disappearance of the name ''wushisan'', Obringer compares parallel descriptions of exactly the same medical treatments and troubles for drug-using patients. The (752) ''Waitai biyao'' ( "Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library"), compiled by Wang Tao (), quotes the rules for ''wushisan'' users; the (992) ''Taiping shenghui fang'' ( "Imperial Grace Formulary of the Taiping Era 76–983) medical compendium, which does not mention ''wushisan'' or ''hanshisan'', quotes them for ''rushi'' ( "stalactite and quartz") users.

Song dynasty

During the Song dynasty (960–1279) period, Englehardt says, "Cold-Food Powder was ethically condemned and became synonymous with a heterodox ideology and an immoral lifestyle. This may explain why the name of the drug was banned after the Tang, while the use of identical pharmaceutical drugs has continued under different names."

Su Shi's (1060) ''Dongpo zhilin'' ("Recollections of Su Dongpo") exemplifies Song era moral condemnation of the drug: "The vogue for taking stalactite and aconite, for stooping to alcoholic and sexual debaucheries in order to obtain long life began in the times of He Yan. This person, in his youth, was wealthy and of noble birth: he took ''hanshisan'' to maintain his concupiscence. It is not surprising that the habit was sufficient to kill, day by day, himself and his clan."

Dikötter ''et ll'' says that "From the Song onwards, mineral powders became more varied, including increasing quantities of medical herbs, ginger, ginseng and oyster extract, thus changing in character from alchemical substances to formal medicines (''yao'')."

Ingredients

The precise components of ''hanshisan'' or ''wushisan'' are uncertain. Sailey describes the difficulties in identifying the ingredients.

The drug has not been made since the Tang; surely, if scholars believed they could make it, they would have tried. Also, there is the problem that the term ''chih'' 脂 (paste) implies the addition of other materials to make it congeal, materials which are not identified. … Perhaps the greatest problem of all, though, is the fact that drug-makers have traditionally guarded their secrets well, and references to major ingredients by color lead the reader to the inevitable conclusion that an esoteric formula is being used, hinting at, rather than explicitly stating, the contents of the mixture.

Needham estimates "at least a half dozen" quite different ingredient lists, "all from authoritative sources."

The ''Baopuzi'' records two different lists of the Five Minerals (given below with literal meanings). Chapter 4 lists ''dansha'' ( lit. "red sand"), ''xionghuang'' ( "male yellow"), ''baifan'' ( lit. "white alum"), ''cengqing'' ( lit. "once green"), and ''cishi'' ( lit "compassionate stone", cf. ''ci'' "magnet"). English translations include:
*cinnabar, realgar, pai-fan (synonymous with ''fan-shih'' , potash alum), malachite and tz'u-shih (magnetic iron ore, magnetite, black oxide of iron), with footnotes added
*cinnabar, realgar, arsenolite, laminar malachite, and magnetite
*cinnabar, realgar, purified potash alum, stratified malachite, and magnetite
Needham translates ''baifan'' () as "purified potash alum" rather than "arsenolite". Chapter 17 lists ''xionghuang'', ''dansha'', ''cihuang'' ( lit. "female yellow"), ''fanshi'' ( lit. "alum stone"), and ''cengqing''.
*realgar, cinnabar, orpiment, alum, and laminar malachite
Note the "male/female yellow" contrast between orange-red ''xionghuang'' ( "realgar") and yellow-red ''cihuang'' ( "orpiment"). Compared with chapter 4's list of the Five Minerals, this version rearranges three ingredients (cinnabar, realgar, and stratified malachite) and replaces two: ''baifan'' ( "arsenolite") with ''cihuang'' ( "orpiment") and ''cishi'' ( "magnetite") with the graphically similar ''fanshi'' ( "alum"). In traditional '' wuxing'' "five phases/elements" theory, the correlating ''wuse'' ( "five colors") are blue, yellow, red, white, and black (, and ). Needham says,

The [chapter 4] series cinnabar, realgar, alum, malachite and magnetite would be most consonant with the colours (red, yellow, white, caerulean and black) required in the traditional five-element symbolic correlations, so it may have been one of the earliest. ''Yu shih'' ([] arsenolite), also white, because of the similarity of its orthography, tended to get substituted for ''fan shih'' ([] alum) but the latter is much more common in the alchemical texts—here perhaps was a real pitfall for the unwary experimentalist.

Ingredients listed in the above Tang dynasty ''Qianjin yifang'' include " five mineral drugs (fluorite, quartz, red bole clay, stalactite and sulphur), one animal drug (shell of '' Cyclina sinensis'', a type of clam) and nine plant drugs (''Saposhnikovia divaricata'', ''Trichosanthes kirilowii'', ''Atractylodes macrocephala'', ''Panax ginseng'', ''Platycodon grandiflorus'', ''Asarum sieboldii'', ''Zingiber officinale'', ''Cinnamomum cassia'' and ''Aconitum'' sp.). Besides giving this detailed ''hanshisan'' formula, the ''Qianjinfang'' ironically warns the toxicity "was so great that one was compelled to burn any record of its formula". Mather translates the five mineral substances as: stalactite (shih-chung-ju []), sulphur (shih-liuhuang []), milky quartz (pai-shih-ying []), amethyst (tzu-shih-ying []), and red bole or ochre (ch'ih-shih-chih [])."

Based upon numerous ''hanshisan'' recipes, Wagner's "Das Rezept des Ho Yen" lists 13 ingredients: First, 2.5 ''liang'' ( "tael

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases