daoism and animals - evergreen state college...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but...

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Daoism and Animals E. N. ANDERSON AND LISA RAPHALS The Animal World of Ancient China Ancient China was a world rich in animals. In dramatic contrast to the devastated modern landscape, China's biodiversity was the greatest of any temperate land. It was a land of vast lush forests, rich grasslands, fertile mountains, and enormous expanses of wetland-marsh, swamp, and river bottom. In these dwelt elephants, rhinoceri, pandas, apes, tigers, leopards, and countless smaller forms. The earliest Chinese artifacts from the Shang dynasty (traditionally 1766-II22 BCE, actually somewhat later) include many representations of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water buffaloes, tigers, sheep, and birds. Pigs, the most com- mon animal found in archaeological remains, are conspicuously absent. In succeeding peri- ods, more and more animals were portrayed, as were countless imaginary creatures, such as the nine-tailed fox, human-headed birds, the three-legged crow in the sun, and the humanoid owl. The ancient Chinese knew their fauna inti- mately. The Classic of Poetry or Shi jing mentions at least ninety-three species, including twenty- one mammals (one mythical), thirty-five birds (one mythical, the phoenix), three reptiles (plus the mythical dragon), one amphibian, thirteen fish, and nineteen insects.! Here and elsewhere in Chinese literature, there is a striking aware- ness of insect life. The songs of the Shi jing re- flect the fresh, direct vision of people who knew animals from daily experience. The wasp carries off the caterpillar to feed its young; the rats nibble the grain; the spider spins her web over abandoned doorways. By the Warring States period (ca. 403-221 BCE), China's heartland-the North China Plain, the loess uplands west of it, and the Yang- tze and Huai river valleys - had already been transformed by humans and biotically impov- erished. Rhinos and elephants were exotic crea- tures, known from trade with non-Chinese

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Page 1: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

Daoism and Animals

E N ANDERSON AND LISA RAPHALS

The Animal World ofAncient China

Ancient China was a world rich in animals In dramatic contrast to the devastated modern landscape Chinas biodiversity was the greatest ofany temperate land It was a land ofvast lush forests rich grasslands fertile mountains and enormous expanses of wetland-marsh swamp and river bottom In these dwelt elephants rhinoceri pandas apes tigers leopards and countless smaller forms

The earliest Chinese artifacts from the Shang dynasty (traditionally 1766-II22 BCE actually somewhat later) include many representations of dragons and other imaginary creatures but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals Actual animals depicted include water buffaloes tigers sheep and birds Pigs the most comshymon animal found in archaeological remains are conspicuously absent In succeeding perishyods more and more animals were portrayed as were countless imaginary creatures such as the nine-tailed fox human-headed birds the

three-legged crow in the sun and the humanoid owl

The ancient Chinese knew their fauna intishymately The Classic ofPoetry or Shijing mentions at least ninety-three species including twentyshyone mammals (one mythical) thirty-five birds (one mythical the phoenix) three reptiles (plus the mythical dragon) one amphibian thirteen fish and nineteen insects Here and elsewhere in Chinese literature there is a striking awareshyness of insect life The songs of the Shi jing reshyflect the fresh direct vision ofpeople who knew animals from daily experience The wasp carries off the caterpillar to feed its young the rats nibble the grain the spider spins her web over abandoned doorways

By the Warring States period (ca 403-221

BCE) Chinas heartland-the North China Plain the loess uplands west of it and the Yangshytze and Huai river valleys - had already been transformed by humans and biotically impovshyerished Rhinos and elephants were exotic creashytures known from trade with non-Chinese

ANDERSON

groups on the margins The common animals ofdaily experience were domestic Horses donshy

keys cattle goats dogs buffaloes sheep pigs chickens Of these the last four were native the others introduced (as domesticates-although some had local wild forms) but known for milshy

lennia Pigs then as now were by far the most important meat source Chickens and dogs were common but horses were a luxury for the elite and cattle were uncommon beasts of the plow

Rulers kept large game parks in which they hun ted deer and other large animals These were seen by many social critics as wasteful luxuries

that tied up good land Animals per se are not a distinct category in

most Chinese texts Daoist or otherwise More typically texts that talk about animals at any length use the four or five distinct categories of beasts birds insects and fish with the occashysional addition of dragons and snakes

The term Daoism is equally problematic beshycause of the unclear affiliations of some of the texts and practices in which animals are most prevalent Most textual accounts of animals come from the Six Dynasties period While hagishyographies from the Dao zang are unproblematishycally Daoist the same cannot be said for the Soushen ji and other literature dealing with anomalies which prominently features accounts of animals both normal and anomalous

In this essay we focus discussion on actual animals or on individual instances of animals

that are described as anomalies for their kind This approach largely omits the many accounts of mythological animals (the dragon phoenix unicorn and the use of animals as purely directional symbols We draw on both standard texts from the Warring States period and on reshycently excavated archaeological texts

Early Daoism

The term Daoism as a specific bodyofthought is anachronistic when applied to ancient China

AND RAPHALS

Attributed to Sima Tan in the Historical Records or Shi ji (ca roo BeE) the term has been widely used to refer to mystical and quietistic interpretations of two texts the Dao de jing a collection of gnomic verses still wildly popushy

lar today probably compiled abound 200 BeE

and Zhuangzi attributed to the fourth-century BeE figure Zhuang Zhou Recent archaeologishycal finds and contemporary scholarship have brought about a reappraisal of the term as apshyplied to pre-Han texts Sima Tans use of the term included a number of thinkers whose comshymon ground was skepticism about active intershyventionist government Most of them talked about the need to find dao- the Way the proper way of living acting and governing-but so did most other Chinese philosophers

Another important source was the Chu ci or Songs othe South a collection ofearly poems by court officials of Han and immediately pre-Han times Most of these invoke shamanistic andor Daoistic images and some are frankly Daoist The Chu ci is incredibly rich in animal and plant images mentioning at least eighty-eight animal species many of which are imaginary Its pages are rich with dragons rainbow-serpents wasps as big as gourds and ants as big as elephants Even the real animals are often completely unshyidentifiable

The Zhuangzi is the most philosophically challenging and the most rich and diverse of

the early sources Like other early Chinese works it was edited and supplemented in the Han dynasty but it retained a solid core ofearly material-presumably by Zhuangzi himselfshythat have come to be called the inner chapters

The Zhuangzi mentions approximately seventyshyfive animals many of them mythical or unidenshy

tifiable Like other early Chinese writers Zhuanshygzi (and the other authors of the material that has accumulated around his name) were conshyscious of even the smallest insects A pig louse becomes a symbol of foolish security and insect transformations are recorded in exquisite if bioshylogically inaccurate detaiP

Animals in Early D

Animals appear in ings First their pI obvious They pn medicine Meat Ie

derived medicatiot rioned In the early cation that such us Excessive consumF with luxury and dil the general tendenc

was frequently ant natural process in

The horse prob tioned animal in eal

rifled with wealth F it was an importal elites One of the r Zhuangzi attacks w

the happiness and j the misery and bad

When they live 0

and drink the w

their necks and s swing round and I yokes on their nee crossbar the hors crossbar wriggle

riage hood3

Daoist texts also de ures mounted on and other creatures

Second animals ancestors as they st communities Arch

practice back to hi animals mentioned

oxen and sheep n that Daoists protes apocryphal anecdot be minister ofstate self to a sacrificial 1

~torical Records

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277

DAOISM AND

Animals in Early Daoist Thought

Animals appear in many contexts in these writshy

ings First their practical value is immediately

obvious They provided food clothing and

medicine Meat leather silk wool and animalshy

derived medications are very frequently menshy

tioned In the early Daoist texts there is no indishy

cation that such uses were considered immoral

Excessive consumption of meat was identified

with luxury and disparaged for that reason but

the general tendency ofanimals to eat each other

was frequently and explicitly mentioned as a

natural process in harmony with Dao

The horse probably is the most often menshy

tioned animal in early Chinese texts It was idenshy

tified with wealth power and worldly glory and

it was an important source of energy for the

elites One of the most striking passages in the

Zhuangzi attacks worldly power by contrasting

the happiness and freedom of wild horses with

the misery and bad behavior of captive ones

When they live out on the plains they eat grass

and drink the water when pleased they cross

their necks and stroke each other when angry

swing round and kick at each other Ifyou put

yokes on their necks and hold them level with a

crossbar the horses will know how to smash the

crossbar wriggle out of the yokes butt the carshy

riage hood3

Daoist texts also describe and depict human figshy

ures mounted on cranes dragons phoenixes

and other creatures4

Second animals were sacrificed to gods and

ancestors as they still are in traditional Chinese

communities Archaeologists have traced this

practice back to highest antiquity Among the

animals mentioned are dogs chickens turtles

oxen and sheep There is little textual evidence

that Daoists protested these practices In one

apocryphal anecdote Zhuangzi when asked to

be minister ofstate declined by comparing himshy

self to a sacrificial tortoise or ox making the

ANIMALS

point that it is better to be a tortoise dragging

its tail in the mud free safe and unhonored

than to live the stiff artificial and highly uncershy

tain life of a courtier In some cases straw and

pottery models were often substituted for the

real animals thus saving the latter Straw dogs

were also used as a metaphor for humans in the

face of Heaven which treats humans with the

calm indifference of ritualists disposing of sacshy

rificial straw dogs after the ceremony

Finally animals were also used as models for

how to move in powerful natural spontaneous

and healthy ways In a section of the Zhuangzi

that probably dates from the Han dynasty the

anonymous commentator is a bit sarcastic about

those who huff and puff exhale and inhale

do the bear-hang and the bird-stretch 5 As

all of us know who have any acquaintance with

Chinese martial arts and sexual yoga the ways

of the bear are still with us along with the ways

of the monkey the crane the snake and many

other animals whose motions offer salutary exshy

amples of how to move

What Animals Did

Animals were not viewed simply as useful things

They had varying degrees of spiritual or numishy

nous power The most numinous were usually

the most far from everyday experience - the

dragons phoenixes and unicorns-but ordishy

nary animals such as tortoises and snakes were

also given numinous attributes Cranes in parshy

ticular were associated with magical and mysshy

tical experiences and the image of a Daoist

riding through the heavens on a crane eventushy

ally became an artistic cliche Real-world Daoshy

ists kept tame cranes until alas the birds beshy

came too rare to be available6 The crane reshy

tains its sacred status in Korea and Japan where

the few survivors are venerated and protected

However significantly the early Chinese texts

devote very little attention to animal magic exshy

cept for purely imaginary creatures like dragons

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Real-world animals almost never have magical or spirit powers This is in marked contrast to the shamanistic societies ofNorth and Central Asia whose animal cults were (and still are) spectacushylarly rich and complex

From the foregoing it should already be clear that Daoist writers found animals espeshycially important as a source of metaphors simishyles and subjects of teaching stories However we should not fall into the modern habit of reshyducing them to mere figures of speech Zhuanshygzis wild horses are not simply metaphors of freedom real horses like people want freedom and do best when free Zhuangzi presumably thought that the tortoise and ox really did apshypreciate their lives and really preferred them to an honored death In perhaps the most fashymous animal story in Chinese literature Zhuanshygzi dreams he is a butterfly and wakes up uncershytain whether he is a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou8 A striking poetic image at the very least it may also relate to shamanistic trashyditions in which the soul is a butterfly9 Simishylarly the deer dream story in the later Daoist text Liezi in which real and dreamed deer beshycome one has thought-provoking similarities to

beliefs about deer as magical or spiritual quarry among the Mongols of north ChinalO These stories reflect a numinous aspect of the humanshyanimal interface

Analogy due to real homology is explicit in another famous Zhuangzi story the happiness of fish Standing on a bridge with his skeptishycal debate partner Huizi ZhuangLi praises the free and easy action of the minnows Huizi asks You are not a fish Whence do you know that the fish are happy Zhuangzi replies that You arent me whence do you know that I dont know the fish are happy and adds that you asked me the question already knowing that I knew II Zhuangzi is saying that one intuitively knows the pleasure offish He implies that peoshyple and fish share enough basic similarity that humans can understand themP

These stories often emphasize that animals live spontaneously and act according to their

natures This spontaneity and naturalness is also considered an ideal for human conduct Accordshying to a comment in the wild-horses story In the age when Power [de spiritual power or virshytue) was at its utmost men lived in sameness with the birds and animals side by side as fellow clansmen with the myriad creatures13 Today it adds humans have lost the Way They subshyject themselves to lords to artificial habits and to gratuitous and limiting mental constructs There are countless variations on this themeshyeven individual thinkers like ZhuangLi were not always consistent The question of whether (or how far) Zhuangzi and similarly minded Daoshyist philosophers were cultural relativists remains controversial It does seem clear that the early Daoists criticized conventional ethical schemas of Benevolence Duty Ritual and so forth and their power to interfere with all the spontaneity and naturalness in life Watching animals could help teach humans what really is and is not imshyportant and worthwhile Some texts portray anishymals as able to detect humans The Liezi deshyscribes how gulls came to play with a man but fled when he wanted to capture them14 (This became a poetic cliche in later dynasties even more in Korea than in China) Here again freeshydom is seen as a basic desideratum for people and animals alike

These texts also addressed cases where it was necessary to capture animals and remove them from their wild state they make it clear that there was a right Way even to do that These texts show how to focus on animals understand exactly how they live and move and enter into such harmony with them as to achieve anything A fisherman catches a whale-sized fish with a single silk thread for a line and a wheat awn fOf a hookl5 A cicada-catcher succeeds by concenshytrating his mind so much that there is nothing in all the universe for him except the cicadas wings16 The point of the story of course is to teach us how to live not how to catch cicadas

The early Daoists also recognized the imporshytance of the food chain and they had no illushysions about that side of animal life A beautiful

teaching story u class finds Zhua poach a bit of d strange bird that about to eat a cie in this instructivi most caught by t the incident that losophy-as well

Transformatic of animal life 1 pillars transform wasps and so fo string of transfo becomes the wal other plants and horse is produce the human-a 1

idea IS Liezi cons

adding several tr Sheeps liver cl underground 11 become[sl the wi and evolution it changes one can ral flow of things

More seriousl death echo this ~

body may becon horses2o Such pal the world Even purely literary pl actual comments ize humble dome eaves Lao Dan dragon in Zhuar gious traditions protected animal batim from Con The foundational on these topics bi animalsmiddot in as na Daoists seem not which animals Wf

traction and med as a natural thing

laturalness is also onduct Accordshyhorses story In ual power or virshyived in sameness eby side as fellow atures13 Today

Way They subshyificial habits and ental constructs on this themeshyhuangzi were not III of whether (or rly minded Daoshyelativists remains ear that the early Jethicalschemas and so forth and II the spontaneity ng animals could

1 is and is not imshy texts portrayanishyns The Liezi deshyywith a man but ure tbem14 (This er dynasties even I Here again freeshy~tum for people

cases where it was and remove them nake it clear that to do that These imals understand ve and enter into achieve anything -sized fish with a d a wheat awn for ceeds by concenshyIt there is nothing xcept the cicadas ry of course is to to catch cicadas gnized the imporshythey had no illushy

allife A beautiful

279 DA01SM AND ANIMALS

teaching story used today in many an ecology humans Tigers and even mosquitoes eat hushyclass finds Zhuangzi in a game park trying to mans why should not humans eat other anishypoach a bit of dinner He trains his bow on a mals Moreover sacrifice was and still is critishystrange bird that is itself about to eat a mantis cally important to Daoist ritual Today Daoist about to eat a cicada He becomes so absorbed ceremonies observed by E N Anderson involve in this instructive tableau that he himself is alshy sacrifice and consumption of chickens and pigs most caught by the wardenP This is said to be and sometimes other animals It is thus clear that the incident that turned his mind to Daoist phishy Daoists differ from Buddhists in their tolerance losophy-as well it might of slaughter and consumption of animals

lransformation is another important aspect of animal life The Chinese knew that catershypillars transformed into butterflies grubs into The Zhuangzi andAnimal Minds wasps and so forth Zhuangzi provides a long string of transformations the germ in a seed The Zhuangzi uses animals in a new set ofways becomes the water-plantain which turns into that reflect both observation of (and interest other plants and then to insects eventually the in) their actual behavior and a keen sense of horse is produced and from the horse is born metaphor the human - a strange and still unexplained The first representation of the great knowlshyideals Liezi considerably expands this account edge (d4 zhi ~) that preoccupies the Inner adding several truly uncanny transformations Chapters of the Zhuangzi is as an animal or Sheeps liver changes into the goblin sheep rather the transformation with which the work underground The blood of horses and men begins the transformation of the Kun fish into become[s] the will-o-the-wisp 19 Such change the Peng bird in the first chapter of the Zhuanshy

and evolution is part of nature Everything gzi It is the Peng bird neither a human or a changes one can only resign oneself to the natushy divinity that first represents the greater perspecshyral flow of things tive The distinction between large and small

More seriously philosophical comments on perspective is elaborated first in the contrast beshydeath echo this account A dying sage says his tween the perspectives of the Peng Bird and the body may become a chariot and his spirit its turtledove that hops from branch to branch horses2o Such passages say something real about That distinction is elaborated in human terms in the world Even when animals are used for the Qiwu lun chapter of Book 2 In these passhypurely literary purposes we are never far from sages the Zhuangzi uses a melange of real and actual comments on nature Swallows symbolshy imaginary animals to comment on and recomshyize humble domesticity because they nest under mend human choices23 Animal minds demonshyeaves Lao Dan (the apocryphal Laozi) is a strate the desirable attitudes ofgreat perspective dragon in Zhuangzis metaphor21 Daoist relishy and detachment This kind ofmetaphor extends gious traditions developed moral charges that to the political In ~utumn Floods (Zhuanshyprotected animal life sometimes adopted vershy gzi 17) Zhuangzi himself uses the rhetorical exshybatim from Confucian and Buddhist works22 ample of the turtle dragging its tail in the mud The foundational Daoist texts are notably silent to emphasize the priority ofa natural and livable on these topics beyond a general charter to leave life over the demands and dangers of court life animals in as natural a state as possible The and high office Daoists seem not to have conceived ofa world in The Zhuangzi also uses animal minds to show which animals were not used for food clothing the limitations of attachment and loss of pershytraction and medicine They saw eating animals spective Zhuangzis quarry in the hunting park as a natural thing and therefore appropriate for (see above) is a strange magpie whose wings

280

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

are huge but get it nowhere and whose eyes are huge but dont see For all its uselessness -a theme of considerable importance in the Zhuangzi-it escapes his attentions because he

is distracted by the sight of the cicada stalked by the mantis stalked by the magpie stalked by Zhuangzi himself in Zhuangzi 20

Animals Gender and Morality

The uses of animals in the arguments of the two Classical Daoist texts and in early medishycal literature is even more striking if we contrast the use of birds and beasts in the arguments of other Warring States thinkers sometimes classed as Huang-Lao Daoism The Guanzi

contrasts animals negatively with the prehuman state before civilization In this and other texts the distinction betvveen men and women (nanshy

nu zhi bie is taken as the defining feashyture of human as opposed to animal society They ascribe the incorrect mingling ofthe sexes

among other things to the prehuman behavior of animals and to the quasi-bestial practices of primitive society before the civilizing influence of the sage-kings24 According to the Guanzi if ministers are allowed to indulge themselves

they will follow their desires and behave with reckless abandon Men and women will not be kept separate bur revert to being animals Conshysequently the rules of propriety righteous conshyduct integrity and a sense of shame will not

be established and the of men will have nothing with which to protect himself25

Part of the protection of the ruler is the order of human as opposed to animal society The distinction betveen men and women is

one of the defining features of human society Beasts by contrast do not segregate males and females26

The Shamanic Connection

An earlier generation of Sinologists often saw connections between Daoism and shamanism17

Shamanism a form of religious and curing acshytivity widespread in Asia involves shamans who send their souls to other realms in order to search our the cause and cure of personal and social ills and misfortunes There is every reashyson to pursue the issue for the Han Chinese world is surrounded by shamanistic societies The English word shaman is borrowed from

the Tungus languages Many Tungus groups live in China One of the Tungus languages Manshychu was the language of tVO Chinese dynasties (the Jin and Qing both ruled by Tungus conshyquerors) It would be inconceivable that China would not be influenced by shamanism Indeed the Chinese word wu ZlI which now covers a range of spirit mediums once clearly applied to shamans very similar in their practices to

the Tungus and Mongol ones8 Wu and Daoist adepts could both send their souls to the heavens and to the lands of the immortals as is clearly

seen in the Songs ofthe South and in many later Daoist writings29 Daoist adepts live in a unishyverse of meditation and inner travel similar to the shamanic one

A clear link with shamanic animal lore is the concern with transformations The general texts on transformation noted above presaged a flood of animal tales in later literature These often turn on the proneness of animals to take human shape or vice versa sometimes the transshy

formation becomes complete but at other times we are dealing with were-creatures Statements in Daoist texts about the flux and transformashytion of all things may have roots in shamanshyistic traditions as well as Chinese cosmological knowledge and belief

Another link betVeen shamanism and Chishynese folk religion is the concern with sacrifices and sacrificial animals In modern Daoist pracshytice elaborate sacrifices involve special preparashytion and treatment of the animals each cereshy

mony has its m place to place ~

logic and struct Daurs3o Howev animals is not v

ings surveyed he

of spiritual POWl guides in supern manism31 The n

and cranes used rean realms This with shamanism sometimes birds

ously dose The gion that reaches tral Asia seems a so far as it is reI about sacrifice a cance of dragon the tiger so un throughout its r

in Daoist texts know that the i foxes and fox s lished 33 The hug

mals of Zhuangz strange powers r manistic cosmol evidence of it C animals ofthe Sh tains and Seas)

ary experiences c real mountains

Shan Hai Jing ne text

Most particul seem completel

component so F about hunting ] Asia and all of

and shamanic 10 injunction not usually no more needs This viev Hefs about the an

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 2: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

ANDERSON

groups on the margins The common animals ofdaily experience were domestic Horses donshy

keys cattle goats dogs buffaloes sheep pigs chickens Of these the last four were native the others introduced (as domesticates-although some had local wild forms) but known for milshy

lennia Pigs then as now were by far the most important meat source Chickens and dogs were common but horses were a luxury for the elite and cattle were uncommon beasts of the plow

Rulers kept large game parks in which they hun ted deer and other large animals These were seen by many social critics as wasteful luxuries

that tied up good land Animals per se are not a distinct category in

most Chinese texts Daoist or otherwise More typically texts that talk about animals at any length use the four or five distinct categories of beasts birds insects and fish with the occashysional addition of dragons and snakes

The term Daoism is equally problematic beshycause of the unclear affiliations of some of the texts and practices in which animals are most prevalent Most textual accounts of animals come from the Six Dynasties period While hagishyographies from the Dao zang are unproblematishycally Daoist the same cannot be said for the Soushen ji and other literature dealing with anomalies which prominently features accounts of animals both normal and anomalous

In this essay we focus discussion on actual animals or on individual instances of animals

that are described as anomalies for their kind This approach largely omits the many accounts of mythological animals (the dragon phoenix unicorn and the use of animals as purely directional symbols We draw on both standard texts from the Warring States period and on reshycently excavated archaeological texts

Early Daoism

The term Daoism as a specific bodyofthought is anachronistic when applied to ancient China

AND RAPHALS

Attributed to Sima Tan in the Historical Records or Shi ji (ca roo BeE) the term has been widely used to refer to mystical and quietistic interpretations of two texts the Dao de jing a collection of gnomic verses still wildly popushy

lar today probably compiled abound 200 BeE

and Zhuangzi attributed to the fourth-century BeE figure Zhuang Zhou Recent archaeologishycal finds and contemporary scholarship have brought about a reappraisal of the term as apshyplied to pre-Han texts Sima Tans use of the term included a number of thinkers whose comshymon ground was skepticism about active intershyventionist government Most of them talked about the need to find dao- the Way the proper way of living acting and governing-but so did most other Chinese philosophers

Another important source was the Chu ci or Songs othe South a collection ofearly poems by court officials of Han and immediately pre-Han times Most of these invoke shamanistic andor Daoistic images and some are frankly Daoist The Chu ci is incredibly rich in animal and plant images mentioning at least eighty-eight animal species many of which are imaginary Its pages are rich with dragons rainbow-serpents wasps as big as gourds and ants as big as elephants Even the real animals are often completely unshyidentifiable

The Zhuangzi is the most philosophically challenging and the most rich and diverse of

the early sources Like other early Chinese works it was edited and supplemented in the Han dynasty but it retained a solid core ofearly material-presumably by Zhuangzi himselfshythat have come to be called the inner chapters

The Zhuangzi mentions approximately seventyshyfive animals many of them mythical or unidenshy

tifiable Like other early Chinese writers Zhuanshygzi (and the other authors of the material that has accumulated around his name) were conshyscious of even the smallest insects A pig louse becomes a symbol of foolish security and insect transformations are recorded in exquisite if bioshylogically inaccurate detaiP

Animals in Early D

Animals appear in ings First their pI obvious They pn medicine Meat Ie

derived medicatiot rioned In the early cation that such us Excessive consumF with luxury and dil the general tendenc

was frequently ant natural process in

The horse prob tioned animal in eal

rifled with wealth F it was an importal elites One of the r Zhuangzi attacks w

the happiness and j the misery and bad

When they live 0

and drink the w

their necks and s swing round and I yokes on their nee crossbar the hors crossbar wriggle

riage hood3

Daoist texts also de ures mounted on and other creatures

Second animals ancestors as they st communities Arch

practice back to hi animals mentioned

oxen and sheep n that Daoists protes apocryphal anecdot be minister ofstate self to a sacrificial 1

~torical Records

erm has been

and quietistic

~ Dao de jing

II wildly popushy

)Und 200 BeE

fourth-century

Ilt archaeologishy

~olarship have

he term as apshy

ms use of the

~rs whose comshy

It active intershy

f them talked

Vay the proper

Ilg- but so did

i

s the Chu ci or

early poems by

iately pre-Han

Ilanistic andor

rankly Daoist

limal and plant

y-eight animal

inary Its pages

erpents wasps

g as elephants

completely unshy

)hilosophically

md diverse of

early Chinese

mented in the

id core of early

19zi himselfshynner chapters

nately seventyshy

ical or unidenshy

fiters Zhuanshy

e material that

me) were conshy

ts A pig louse

rity and insect

quisite if bioshy

277

DAOISM AND

Animals in Early Daoist Thought

Animals appear in many contexts in these writshy

ings First their practical value is immediately

obvious They provided food clothing and

medicine Meat leather silk wool and animalshy

derived medications are very frequently menshy

tioned In the early Daoist texts there is no indishy

cation that such uses were considered immoral

Excessive consumption of meat was identified

with luxury and disparaged for that reason but

the general tendency ofanimals to eat each other

was frequently and explicitly mentioned as a

natural process in harmony with Dao

The horse probably is the most often menshy

tioned animal in early Chinese texts It was idenshy

tified with wealth power and worldly glory and

it was an important source of energy for the

elites One of the most striking passages in the

Zhuangzi attacks worldly power by contrasting

the happiness and freedom of wild horses with

the misery and bad behavior of captive ones

When they live out on the plains they eat grass

and drink the water when pleased they cross

their necks and stroke each other when angry

swing round and kick at each other Ifyou put

yokes on their necks and hold them level with a

crossbar the horses will know how to smash the

crossbar wriggle out of the yokes butt the carshy

riage hood3

Daoist texts also describe and depict human figshy

ures mounted on cranes dragons phoenixes

and other creatures4

Second animals were sacrificed to gods and

ancestors as they still are in traditional Chinese

communities Archaeologists have traced this

practice back to highest antiquity Among the

animals mentioned are dogs chickens turtles

oxen and sheep There is little textual evidence

that Daoists protested these practices In one

apocryphal anecdote Zhuangzi when asked to

be minister ofstate declined by comparing himshy

self to a sacrificial tortoise or ox making the

ANIMALS

point that it is better to be a tortoise dragging

its tail in the mud free safe and unhonored

than to live the stiff artificial and highly uncershy

tain life of a courtier In some cases straw and

pottery models were often substituted for the

real animals thus saving the latter Straw dogs

were also used as a metaphor for humans in the

face of Heaven which treats humans with the

calm indifference of ritualists disposing of sacshy

rificial straw dogs after the ceremony

Finally animals were also used as models for

how to move in powerful natural spontaneous

and healthy ways In a section of the Zhuangzi

that probably dates from the Han dynasty the

anonymous commentator is a bit sarcastic about

those who huff and puff exhale and inhale

do the bear-hang and the bird-stretch 5 As

all of us know who have any acquaintance with

Chinese martial arts and sexual yoga the ways

of the bear are still with us along with the ways

of the monkey the crane the snake and many

other animals whose motions offer salutary exshy

amples of how to move

What Animals Did

Animals were not viewed simply as useful things

They had varying degrees of spiritual or numishy

nous power The most numinous were usually

the most far from everyday experience - the

dragons phoenixes and unicorns-but ordishy

nary animals such as tortoises and snakes were

also given numinous attributes Cranes in parshy

ticular were associated with magical and mysshy

tical experiences and the image of a Daoist

riding through the heavens on a crane eventushy

ally became an artistic cliche Real-world Daoshy

ists kept tame cranes until alas the birds beshy

came too rare to be available6 The crane reshy

tains its sacred status in Korea and Japan where

the few survivors are venerated and protected

However significantly the early Chinese texts

devote very little attention to animal magic exshy

cept for purely imaginary creatures like dragons

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Real-world animals almost never have magical or spirit powers This is in marked contrast to the shamanistic societies ofNorth and Central Asia whose animal cults were (and still are) spectacushylarly rich and complex

From the foregoing it should already be clear that Daoist writers found animals espeshycially important as a source of metaphors simishyles and subjects of teaching stories However we should not fall into the modern habit of reshyducing them to mere figures of speech Zhuanshygzis wild horses are not simply metaphors of freedom real horses like people want freedom and do best when free Zhuangzi presumably thought that the tortoise and ox really did apshypreciate their lives and really preferred them to an honored death In perhaps the most fashymous animal story in Chinese literature Zhuanshygzi dreams he is a butterfly and wakes up uncershytain whether he is a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou8 A striking poetic image at the very least it may also relate to shamanistic trashyditions in which the soul is a butterfly9 Simishylarly the deer dream story in the later Daoist text Liezi in which real and dreamed deer beshycome one has thought-provoking similarities to

beliefs about deer as magical or spiritual quarry among the Mongols of north ChinalO These stories reflect a numinous aspect of the humanshyanimal interface

Analogy due to real homology is explicit in another famous Zhuangzi story the happiness of fish Standing on a bridge with his skeptishycal debate partner Huizi ZhuangLi praises the free and easy action of the minnows Huizi asks You are not a fish Whence do you know that the fish are happy Zhuangzi replies that You arent me whence do you know that I dont know the fish are happy and adds that you asked me the question already knowing that I knew II Zhuangzi is saying that one intuitively knows the pleasure offish He implies that peoshyple and fish share enough basic similarity that humans can understand themP

These stories often emphasize that animals live spontaneously and act according to their

natures This spontaneity and naturalness is also considered an ideal for human conduct Accordshying to a comment in the wild-horses story In the age when Power [de spiritual power or virshytue) was at its utmost men lived in sameness with the birds and animals side by side as fellow clansmen with the myriad creatures13 Today it adds humans have lost the Way They subshyject themselves to lords to artificial habits and to gratuitous and limiting mental constructs There are countless variations on this themeshyeven individual thinkers like ZhuangLi were not always consistent The question of whether (or how far) Zhuangzi and similarly minded Daoshyist philosophers were cultural relativists remains controversial It does seem clear that the early Daoists criticized conventional ethical schemas of Benevolence Duty Ritual and so forth and their power to interfere with all the spontaneity and naturalness in life Watching animals could help teach humans what really is and is not imshyportant and worthwhile Some texts portray anishymals as able to detect humans The Liezi deshyscribes how gulls came to play with a man but fled when he wanted to capture them14 (This became a poetic cliche in later dynasties even more in Korea than in China) Here again freeshydom is seen as a basic desideratum for people and animals alike

These texts also addressed cases where it was necessary to capture animals and remove them from their wild state they make it clear that there was a right Way even to do that These texts show how to focus on animals understand exactly how they live and move and enter into such harmony with them as to achieve anything A fisherman catches a whale-sized fish with a single silk thread for a line and a wheat awn fOf a hookl5 A cicada-catcher succeeds by concenshytrating his mind so much that there is nothing in all the universe for him except the cicadas wings16 The point of the story of course is to teach us how to live not how to catch cicadas

The early Daoists also recognized the imporshytance of the food chain and they had no illushysions about that side of animal life A beautiful

teaching story u class finds Zhua poach a bit of d strange bird that about to eat a cie in this instructivi most caught by t the incident that losophy-as well

Transformatic of animal life 1 pillars transform wasps and so fo string of transfo becomes the wal other plants and horse is produce the human-a 1

idea IS Liezi cons

adding several tr Sheeps liver cl underground 11 become[sl the wi and evolution it changes one can ral flow of things

More seriousl death echo this ~

body may becon horses2o Such pal the world Even purely literary pl actual comments ize humble dome eaves Lao Dan dragon in Zhuar gious traditions protected animal batim from Con The foundational on these topics bi animalsmiddot in as na Daoists seem not which animals Wf

traction and med as a natural thing

laturalness is also onduct Accordshyhorses story In ual power or virshyived in sameness eby side as fellow atures13 Today

Way They subshyificial habits and ental constructs on this themeshyhuangzi were not III of whether (or rly minded Daoshyelativists remains ear that the early Jethicalschemas and so forth and II the spontaneity ng animals could

1 is and is not imshy texts portrayanishyns The Liezi deshyywith a man but ure tbem14 (This er dynasties even I Here again freeshy~tum for people

cases where it was and remove them nake it clear that to do that These imals understand ve and enter into achieve anything -sized fish with a d a wheat awn for ceeds by concenshyIt there is nothing xcept the cicadas ry of course is to to catch cicadas gnized the imporshythey had no illushy

allife A beautiful

279 DA01SM AND ANIMALS

teaching story used today in many an ecology humans Tigers and even mosquitoes eat hushyclass finds Zhuangzi in a game park trying to mans why should not humans eat other anishypoach a bit of dinner He trains his bow on a mals Moreover sacrifice was and still is critishystrange bird that is itself about to eat a mantis cally important to Daoist ritual Today Daoist about to eat a cicada He becomes so absorbed ceremonies observed by E N Anderson involve in this instructive tableau that he himself is alshy sacrifice and consumption of chickens and pigs most caught by the wardenP This is said to be and sometimes other animals It is thus clear that the incident that turned his mind to Daoist phishy Daoists differ from Buddhists in their tolerance losophy-as well it might of slaughter and consumption of animals

lransformation is another important aspect of animal life The Chinese knew that catershypillars transformed into butterflies grubs into The Zhuangzi andAnimal Minds wasps and so forth Zhuangzi provides a long string of transformations the germ in a seed The Zhuangzi uses animals in a new set ofways becomes the water-plantain which turns into that reflect both observation of (and interest other plants and then to insects eventually the in) their actual behavior and a keen sense of horse is produced and from the horse is born metaphor the human - a strange and still unexplained The first representation of the great knowlshyideals Liezi considerably expands this account edge (d4 zhi ~) that preoccupies the Inner adding several truly uncanny transformations Chapters of the Zhuangzi is as an animal or Sheeps liver changes into the goblin sheep rather the transformation with which the work underground The blood of horses and men begins the transformation of the Kun fish into become[s] the will-o-the-wisp 19 Such change the Peng bird in the first chapter of the Zhuanshy

and evolution is part of nature Everything gzi It is the Peng bird neither a human or a changes one can only resign oneself to the natushy divinity that first represents the greater perspecshyral flow of things tive The distinction between large and small

More seriously philosophical comments on perspective is elaborated first in the contrast beshydeath echo this account A dying sage says his tween the perspectives of the Peng Bird and the body may become a chariot and his spirit its turtledove that hops from branch to branch horses2o Such passages say something real about That distinction is elaborated in human terms in the world Even when animals are used for the Qiwu lun chapter of Book 2 In these passhypurely literary purposes we are never far from sages the Zhuangzi uses a melange of real and actual comments on nature Swallows symbolshy imaginary animals to comment on and recomshyize humble domesticity because they nest under mend human choices23 Animal minds demonshyeaves Lao Dan (the apocryphal Laozi) is a strate the desirable attitudes ofgreat perspective dragon in Zhuangzis metaphor21 Daoist relishy and detachment This kind ofmetaphor extends gious traditions developed moral charges that to the political In ~utumn Floods (Zhuanshyprotected animal life sometimes adopted vershy gzi 17) Zhuangzi himself uses the rhetorical exshybatim from Confucian and Buddhist works22 ample of the turtle dragging its tail in the mud The foundational Daoist texts are notably silent to emphasize the priority ofa natural and livable on these topics beyond a general charter to leave life over the demands and dangers of court life animals in as natural a state as possible The and high office Daoists seem not to have conceived ofa world in The Zhuangzi also uses animal minds to show which animals were not used for food clothing the limitations of attachment and loss of pershytraction and medicine They saw eating animals spective Zhuangzis quarry in the hunting park as a natural thing and therefore appropriate for (see above) is a strange magpie whose wings

280

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

are huge but get it nowhere and whose eyes are huge but dont see For all its uselessness -a theme of considerable importance in the Zhuangzi-it escapes his attentions because he

is distracted by the sight of the cicada stalked by the mantis stalked by the magpie stalked by Zhuangzi himself in Zhuangzi 20

Animals Gender and Morality

The uses of animals in the arguments of the two Classical Daoist texts and in early medishycal literature is even more striking if we contrast the use of birds and beasts in the arguments of other Warring States thinkers sometimes classed as Huang-Lao Daoism The Guanzi

contrasts animals negatively with the prehuman state before civilization In this and other texts the distinction betvveen men and women (nanshy

nu zhi bie is taken as the defining feashyture of human as opposed to animal society They ascribe the incorrect mingling ofthe sexes

among other things to the prehuman behavior of animals and to the quasi-bestial practices of primitive society before the civilizing influence of the sage-kings24 According to the Guanzi if ministers are allowed to indulge themselves

they will follow their desires and behave with reckless abandon Men and women will not be kept separate bur revert to being animals Conshysequently the rules of propriety righteous conshyduct integrity and a sense of shame will not

be established and the of men will have nothing with which to protect himself25

Part of the protection of the ruler is the order of human as opposed to animal society The distinction betveen men and women is

one of the defining features of human society Beasts by contrast do not segregate males and females26

The Shamanic Connection

An earlier generation of Sinologists often saw connections between Daoism and shamanism17

Shamanism a form of religious and curing acshytivity widespread in Asia involves shamans who send their souls to other realms in order to search our the cause and cure of personal and social ills and misfortunes There is every reashyson to pursue the issue for the Han Chinese world is surrounded by shamanistic societies The English word shaman is borrowed from

the Tungus languages Many Tungus groups live in China One of the Tungus languages Manshychu was the language of tVO Chinese dynasties (the Jin and Qing both ruled by Tungus conshyquerors) It would be inconceivable that China would not be influenced by shamanism Indeed the Chinese word wu ZlI which now covers a range of spirit mediums once clearly applied to shamans very similar in their practices to

the Tungus and Mongol ones8 Wu and Daoist adepts could both send their souls to the heavens and to the lands of the immortals as is clearly

seen in the Songs ofthe South and in many later Daoist writings29 Daoist adepts live in a unishyverse of meditation and inner travel similar to the shamanic one

A clear link with shamanic animal lore is the concern with transformations The general texts on transformation noted above presaged a flood of animal tales in later literature These often turn on the proneness of animals to take human shape or vice versa sometimes the transshy

formation becomes complete but at other times we are dealing with were-creatures Statements in Daoist texts about the flux and transformashytion of all things may have roots in shamanshyistic traditions as well as Chinese cosmological knowledge and belief

Another link betVeen shamanism and Chishynese folk religion is the concern with sacrifices and sacrificial animals In modern Daoist pracshytice elaborate sacrifices involve special preparashytion and treatment of the animals each cereshy

mony has its m place to place ~

logic and struct Daurs3o Howev animals is not v

ings surveyed he

of spiritual POWl guides in supern manism31 The n

and cranes used rean realms This with shamanism sometimes birds

ously dose The gion that reaches tral Asia seems a so far as it is reI about sacrifice a cance of dragon the tiger so un throughout its r

in Daoist texts know that the i foxes and fox s lished 33 The hug

mals of Zhuangz strange powers r manistic cosmol evidence of it C animals ofthe Sh tains and Seas)

ary experiences c real mountains

Shan Hai Jing ne text

Most particul seem completel

component so F about hunting ] Asia and all of

and shamanic 10 injunction not usually no more needs This viev Hefs about the an

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 3: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

~torical Records

erm has been

and quietistic

~ Dao de jing

II wildly popushy

)Und 200 BeE

fourth-century

Ilt archaeologishy

~olarship have

he term as apshy

ms use of the

~rs whose comshy

It active intershy

f them talked

Vay the proper

Ilg- but so did

i

s the Chu ci or

early poems by

iately pre-Han

Ilanistic andor

rankly Daoist

limal and plant

y-eight animal

inary Its pages

erpents wasps

g as elephants

completely unshy

)hilosophically

md diverse of

early Chinese

mented in the

id core of early

19zi himselfshynner chapters

nately seventyshy

ical or unidenshy

fiters Zhuanshy

e material that

me) were conshy

ts A pig louse

rity and insect

quisite if bioshy

277

DAOISM AND

Animals in Early Daoist Thought

Animals appear in many contexts in these writshy

ings First their practical value is immediately

obvious They provided food clothing and

medicine Meat leather silk wool and animalshy

derived medications are very frequently menshy

tioned In the early Daoist texts there is no indishy

cation that such uses were considered immoral

Excessive consumption of meat was identified

with luxury and disparaged for that reason but

the general tendency ofanimals to eat each other

was frequently and explicitly mentioned as a

natural process in harmony with Dao

The horse probably is the most often menshy

tioned animal in early Chinese texts It was idenshy

tified with wealth power and worldly glory and

it was an important source of energy for the

elites One of the most striking passages in the

Zhuangzi attacks worldly power by contrasting

the happiness and freedom of wild horses with

the misery and bad behavior of captive ones

When they live out on the plains they eat grass

and drink the water when pleased they cross

their necks and stroke each other when angry

swing round and kick at each other Ifyou put

yokes on their necks and hold them level with a

crossbar the horses will know how to smash the

crossbar wriggle out of the yokes butt the carshy

riage hood3

Daoist texts also describe and depict human figshy

ures mounted on cranes dragons phoenixes

and other creatures4

Second animals were sacrificed to gods and

ancestors as they still are in traditional Chinese

communities Archaeologists have traced this

practice back to highest antiquity Among the

animals mentioned are dogs chickens turtles

oxen and sheep There is little textual evidence

that Daoists protested these practices In one

apocryphal anecdote Zhuangzi when asked to

be minister ofstate declined by comparing himshy

self to a sacrificial tortoise or ox making the

ANIMALS

point that it is better to be a tortoise dragging

its tail in the mud free safe and unhonored

than to live the stiff artificial and highly uncershy

tain life of a courtier In some cases straw and

pottery models were often substituted for the

real animals thus saving the latter Straw dogs

were also used as a metaphor for humans in the

face of Heaven which treats humans with the

calm indifference of ritualists disposing of sacshy

rificial straw dogs after the ceremony

Finally animals were also used as models for

how to move in powerful natural spontaneous

and healthy ways In a section of the Zhuangzi

that probably dates from the Han dynasty the

anonymous commentator is a bit sarcastic about

those who huff and puff exhale and inhale

do the bear-hang and the bird-stretch 5 As

all of us know who have any acquaintance with

Chinese martial arts and sexual yoga the ways

of the bear are still with us along with the ways

of the monkey the crane the snake and many

other animals whose motions offer salutary exshy

amples of how to move

What Animals Did

Animals were not viewed simply as useful things

They had varying degrees of spiritual or numishy

nous power The most numinous were usually

the most far from everyday experience - the

dragons phoenixes and unicorns-but ordishy

nary animals such as tortoises and snakes were

also given numinous attributes Cranes in parshy

ticular were associated with magical and mysshy

tical experiences and the image of a Daoist

riding through the heavens on a crane eventushy

ally became an artistic cliche Real-world Daoshy

ists kept tame cranes until alas the birds beshy

came too rare to be available6 The crane reshy

tains its sacred status in Korea and Japan where

the few survivors are venerated and protected

However significantly the early Chinese texts

devote very little attention to animal magic exshy

cept for purely imaginary creatures like dragons

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Real-world animals almost never have magical or spirit powers This is in marked contrast to the shamanistic societies ofNorth and Central Asia whose animal cults were (and still are) spectacushylarly rich and complex

From the foregoing it should already be clear that Daoist writers found animals espeshycially important as a source of metaphors simishyles and subjects of teaching stories However we should not fall into the modern habit of reshyducing them to mere figures of speech Zhuanshygzis wild horses are not simply metaphors of freedom real horses like people want freedom and do best when free Zhuangzi presumably thought that the tortoise and ox really did apshypreciate their lives and really preferred them to an honored death In perhaps the most fashymous animal story in Chinese literature Zhuanshygzi dreams he is a butterfly and wakes up uncershytain whether he is a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou8 A striking poetic image at the very least it may also relate to shamanistic trashyditions in which the soul is a butterfly9 Simishylarly the deer dream story in the later Daoist text Liezi in which real and dreamed deer beshycome one has thought-provoking similarities to

beliefs about deer as magical or spiritual quarry among the Mongols of north ChinalO These stories reflect a numinous aspect of the humanshyanimal interface

Analogy due to real homology is explicit in another famous Zhuangzi story the happiness of fish Standing on a bridge with his skeptishycal debate partner Huizi ZhuangLi praises the free and easy action of the minnows Huizi asks You are not a fish Whence do you know that the fish are happy Zhuangzi replies that You arent me whence do you know that I dont know the fish are happy and adds that you asked me the question already knowing that I knew II Zhuangzi is saying that one intuitively knows the pleasure offish He implies that peoshyple and fish share enough basic similarity that humans can understand themP

These stories often emphasize that animals live spontaneously and act according to their

natures This spontaneity and naturalness is also considered an ideal for human conduct Accordshying to a comment in the wild-horses story In the age when Power [de spiritual power or virshytue) was at its utmost men lived in sameness with the birds and animals side by side as fellow clansmen with the myriad creatures13 Today it adds humans have lost the Way They subshyject themselves to lords to artificial habits and to gratuitous and limiting mental constructs There are countless variations on this themeshyeven individual thinkers like ZhuangLi were not always consistent The question of whether (or how far) Zhuangzi and similarly minded Daoshyist philosophers were cultural relativists remains controversial It does seem clear that the early Daoists criticized conventional ethical schemas of Benevolence Duty Ritual and so forth and their power to interfere with all the spontaneity and naturalness in life Watching animals could help teach humans what really is and is not imshyportant and worthwhile Some texts portray anishymals as able to detect humans The Liezi deshyscribes how gulls came to play with a man but fled when he wanted to capture them14 (This became a poetic cliche in later dynasties even more in Korea than in China) Here again freeshydom is seen as a basic desideratum for people and animals alike

These texts also addressed cases where it was necessary to capture animals and remove them from their wild state they make it clear that there was a right Way even to do that These texts show how to focus on animals understand exactly how they live and move and enter into such harmony with them as to achieve anything A fisherman catches a whale-sized fish with a single silk thread for a line and a wheat awn fOf a hookl5 A cicada-catcher succeeds by concenshytrating his mind so much that there is nothing in all the universe for him except the cicadas wings16 The point of the story of course is to teach us how to live not how to catch cicadas

The early Daoists also recognized the imporshytance of the food chain and they had no illushysions about that side of animal life A beautiful

teaching story u class finds Zhua poach a bit of d strange bird that about to eat a cie in this instructivi most caught by t the incident that losophy-as well

Transformatic of animal life 1 pillars transform wasps and so fo string of transfo becomes the wal other plants and horse is produce the human-a 1

idea IS Liezi cons

adding several tr Sheeps liver cl underground 11 become[sl the wi and evolution it changes one can ral flow of things

More seriousl death echo this ~

body may becon horses2o Such pal the world Even purely literary pl actual comments ize humble dome eaves Lao Dan dragon in Zhuar gious traditions protected animal batim from Con The foundational on these topics bi animalsmiddot in as na Daoists seem not which animals Wf

traction and med as a natural thing

laturalness is also onduct Accordshyhorses story In ual power or virshyived in sameness eby side as fellow atures13 Today

Way They subshyificial habits and ental constructs on this themeshyhuangzi were not III of whether (or rly minded Daoshyelativists remains ear that the early Jethicalschemas and so forth and II the spontaneity ng animals could

1 is and is not imshy texts portrayanishyns The Liezi deshyywith a man but ure tbem14 (This er dynasties even I Here again freeshy~tum for people

cases where it was and remove them nake it clear that to do that These imals understand ve and enter into achieve anything -sized fish with a d a wheat awn for ceeds by concenshyIt there is nothing xcept the cicadas ry of course is to to catch cicadas gnized the imporshythey had no illushy

allife A beautiful

279 DA01SM AND ANIMALS

teaching story used today in many an ecology humans Tigers and even mosquitoes eat hushyclass finds Zhuangzi in a game park trying to mans why should not humans eat other anishypoach a bit of dinner He trains his bow on a mals Moreover sacrifice was and still is critishystrange bird that is itself about to eat a mantis cally important to Daoist ritual Today Daoist about to eat a cicada He becomes so absorbed ceremonies observed by E N Anderson involve in this instructive tableau that he himself is alshy sacrifice and consumption of chickens and pigs most caught by the wardenP This is said to be and sometimes other animals It is thus clear that the incident that turned his mind to Daoist phishy Daoists differ from Buddhists in their tolerance losophy-as well it might of slaughter and consumption of animals

lransformation is another important aspect of animal life The Chinese knew that catershypillars transformed into butterflies grubs into The Zhuangzi andAnimal Minds wasps and so forth Zhuangzi provides a long string of transformations the germ in a seed The Zhuangzi uses animals in a new set ofways becomes the water-plantain which turns into that reflect both observation of (and interest other plants and then to insects eventually the in) their actual behavior and a keen sense of horse is produced and from the horse is born metaphor the human - a strange and still unexplained The first representation of the great knowlshyideals Liezi considerably expands this account edge (d4 zhi ~) that preoccupies the Inner adding several truly uncanny transformations Chapters of the Zhuangzi is as an animal or Sheeps liver changes into the goblin sheep rather the transformation with which the work underground The blood of horses and men begins the transformation of the Kun fish into become[s] the will-o-the-wisp 19 Such change the Peng bird in the first chapter of the Zhuanshy

and evolution is part of nature Everything gzi It is the Peng bird neither a human or a changes one can only resign oneself to the natushy divinity that first represents the greater perspecshyral flow of things tive The distinction between large and small

More seriously philosophical comments on perspective is elaborated first in the contrast beshydeath echo this account A dying sage says his tween the perspectives of the Peng Bird and the body may become a chariot and his spirit its turtledove that hops from branch to branch horses2o Such passages say something real about That distinction is elaborated in human terms in the world Even when animals are used for the Qiwu lun chapter of Book 2 In these passhypurely literary purposes we are never far from sages the Zhuangzi uses a melange of real and actual comments on nature Swallows symbolshy imaginary animals to comment on and recomshyize humble domesticity because they nest under mend human choices23 Animal minds demonshyeaves Lao Dan (the apocryphal Laozi) is a strate the desirable attitudes ofgreat perspective dragon in Zhuangzis metaphor21 Daoist relishy and detachment This kind ofmetaphor extends gious traditions developed moral charges that to the political In ~utumn Floods (Zhuanshyprotected animal life sometimes adopted vershy gzi 17) Zhuangzi himself uses the rhetorical exshybatim from Confucian and Buddhist works22 ample of the turtle dragging its tail in the mud The foundational Daoist texts are notably silent to emphasize the priority ofa natural and livable on these topics beyond a general charter to leave life over the demands and dangers of court life animals in as natural a state as possible The and high office Daoists seem not to have conceived ofa world in The Zhuangzi also uses animal minds to show which animals were not used for food clothing the limitations of attachment and loss of pershytraction and medicine They saw eating animals spective Zhuangzis quarry in the hunting park as a natural thing and therefore appropriate for (see above) is a strange magpie whose wings

280

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

are huge but get it nowhere and whose eyes are huge but dont see For all its uselessness -a theme of considerable importance in the Zhuangzi-it escapes his attentions because he

is distracted by the sight of the cicada stalked by the mantis stalked by the magpie stalked by Zhuangzi himself in Zhuangzi 20

Animals Gender and Morality

The uses of animals in the arguments of the two Classical Daoist texts and in early medishycal literature is even more striking if we contrast the use of birds and beasts in the arguments of other Warring States thinkers sometimes classed as Huang-Lao Daoism The Guanzi

contrasts animals negatively with the prehuman state before civilization In this and other texts the distinction betvveen men and women (nanshy

nu zhi bie is taken as the defining feashyture of human as opposed to animal society They ascribe the incorrect mingling ofthe sexes

among other things to the prehuman behavior of animals and to the quasi-bestial practices of primitive society before the civilizing influence of the sage-kings24 According to the Guanzi if ministers are allowed to indulge themselves

they will follow their desires and behave with reckless abandon Men and women will not be kept separate bur revert to being animals Conshysequently the rules of propriety righteous conshyduct integrity and a sense of shame will not

be established and the of men will have nothing with which to protect himself25

Part of the protection of the ruler is the order of human as opposed to animal society The distinction betveen men and women is

one of the defining features of human society Beasts by contrast do not segregate males and females26

The Shamanic Connection

An earlier generation of Sinologists often saw connections between Daoism and shamanism17

Shamanism a form of religious and curing acshytivity widespread in Asia involves shamans who send their souls to other realms in order to search our the cause and cure of personal and social ills and misfortunes There is every reashyson to pursue the issue for the Han Chinese world is surrounded by shamanistic societies The English word shaman is borrowed from

the Tungus languages Many Tungus groups live in China One of the Tungus languages Manshychu was the language of tVO Chinese dynasties (the Jin and Qing both ruled by Tungus conshyquerors) It would be inconceivable that China would not be influenced by shamanism Indeed the Chinese word wu ZlI which now covers a range of spirit mediums once clearly applied to shamans very similar in their practices to

the Tungus and Mongol ones8 Wu and Daoist adepts could both send their souls to the heavens and to the lands of the immortals as is clearly

seen in the Songs ofthe South and in many later Daoist writings29 Daoist adepts live in a unishyverse of meditation and inner travel similar to the shamanic one

A clear link with shamanic animal lore is the concern with transformations The general texts on transformation noted above presaged a flood of animal tales in later literature These often turn on the proneness of animals to take human shape or vice versa sometimes the transshy

formation becomes complete but at other times we are dealing with were-creatures Statements in Daoist texts about the flux and transformashytion of all things may have roots in shamanshyistic traditions as well as Chinese cosmological knowledge and belief

Another link betVeen shamanism and Chishynese folk religion is the concern with sacrifices and sacrificial animals In modern Daoist pracshytice elaborate sacrifices involve special preparashytion and treatment of the animals each cereshy

mony has its m place to place ~

logic and struct Daurs3o Howev animals is not v

ings surveyed he

of spiritual POWl guides in supern manism31 The n

and cranes used rean realms This with shamanism sometimes birds

ously dose The gion that reaches tral Asia seems a so far as it is reI about sacrifice a cance of dragon the tiger so un throughout its r

in Daoist texts know that the i foxes and fox s lished 33 The hug

mals of Zhuangz strange powers r manistic cosmol evidence of it C animals ofthe Sh tains and Seas)

ary experiences c real mountains

Shan Hai Jing ne text

Most particul seem completel

component so F about hunting ] Asia and all of

and shamanic 10 injunction not usually no more needs This viev Hefs about the an

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 4: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Real-world animals almost never have magical or spirit powers This is in marked contrast to the shamanistic societies ofNorth and Central Asia whose animal cults were (and still are) spectacushylarly rich and complex

From the foregoing it should already be clear that Daoist writers found animals espeshycially important as a source of metaphors simishyles and subjects of teaching stories However we should not fall into the modern habit of reshyducing them to mere figures of speech Zhuanshygzis wild horses are not simply metaphors of freedom real horses like people want freedom and do best when free Zhuangzi presumably thought that the tortoise and ox really did apshypreciate their lives and really preferred them to an honored death In perhaps the most fashymous animal story in Chinese literature Zhuanshygzi dreams he is a butterfly and wakes up uncershytain whether he is a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou8 A striking poetic image at the very least it may also relate to shamanistic trashyditions in which the soul is a butterfly9 Simishylarly the deer dream story in the later Daoist text Liezi in which real and dreamed deer beshycome one has thought-provoking similarities to

beliefs about deer as magical or spiritual quarry among the Mongols of north ChinalO These stories reflect a numinous aspect of the humanshyanimal interface

Analogy due to real homology is explicit in another famous Zhuangzi story the happiness of fish Standing on a bridge with his skeptishycal debate partner Huizi ZhuangLi praises the free and easy action of the minnows Huizi asks You are not a fish Whence do you know that the fish are happy Zhuangzi replies that You arent me whence do you know that I dont know the fish are happy and adds that you asked me the question already knowing that I knew II Zhuangzi is saying that one intuitively knows the pleasure offish He implies that peoshyple and fish share enough basic similarity that humans can understand themP

These stories often emphasize that animals live spontaneously and act according to their

natures This spontaneity and naturalness is also considered an ideal for human conduct Accordshying to a comment in the wild-horses story In the age when Power [de spiritual power or virshytue) was at its utmost men lived in sameness with the birds and animals side by side as fellow clansmen with the myriad creatures13 Today it adds humans have lost the Way They subshyject themselves to lords to artificial habits and to gratuitous and limiting mental constructs There are countless variations on this themeshyeven individual thinkers like ZhuangLi were not always consistent The question of whether (or how far) Zhuangzi and similarly minded Daoshyist philosophers were cultural relativists remains controversial It does seem clear that the early Daoists criticized conventional ethical schemas of Benevolence Duty Ritual and so forth and their power to interfere with all the spontaneity and naturalness in life Watching animals could help teach humans what really is and is not imshyportant and worthwhile Some texts portray anishymals as able to detect humans The Liezi deshyscribes how gulls came to play with a man but fled when he wanted to capture them14 (This became a poetic cliche in later dynasties even more in Korea than in China) Here again freeshydom is seen as a basic desideratum for people and animals alike

These texts also addressed cases where it was necessary to capture animals and remove them from their wild state they make it clear that there was a right Way even to do that These texts show how to focus on animals understand exactly how they live and move and enter into such harmony with them as to achieve anything A fisherman catches a whale-sized fish with a single silk thread for a line and a wheat awn fOf a hookl5 A cicada-catcher succeeds by concenshytrating his mind so much that there is nothing in all the universe for him except the cicadas wings16 The point of the story of course is to teach us how to live not how to catch cicadas

The early Daoists also recognized the imporshytance of the food chain and they had no illushysions about that side of animal life A beautiful

teaching story u class finds Zhua poach a bit of d strange bird that about to eat a cie in this instructivi most caught by t the incident that losophy-as well

Transformatic of animal life 1 pillars transform wasps and so fo string of transfo becomes the wal other plants and horse is produce the human-a 1

idea IS Liezi cons

adding several tr Sheeps liver cl underground 11 become[sl the wi and evolution it changes one can ral flow of things

More seriousl death echo this ~

body may becon horses2o Such pal the world Even purely literary pl actual comments ize humble dome eaves Lao Dan dragon in Zhuar gious traditions protected animal batim from Con The foundational on these topics bi animalsmiddot in as na Daoists seem not which animals Wf

traction and med as a natural thing

laturalness is also onduct Accordshyhorses story In ual power or virshyived in sameness eby side as fellow atures13 Today

Way They subshyificial habits and ental constructs on this themeshyhuangzi were not III of whether (or rly minded Daoshyelativists remains ear that the early Jethicalschemas and so forth and II the spontaneity ng animals could

1 is and is not imshy texts portrayanishyns The Liezi deshyywith a man but ure tbem14 (This er dynasties even I Here again freeshy~tum for people

cases where it was and remove them nake it clear that to do that These imals understand ve and enter into achieve anything -sized fish with a d a wheat awn for ceeds by concenshyIt there is nothing xcept the cicadas ry of course is to to catch cicadas gnized the imporshythey had no illushy

allife A beautiful

279 DA01SM AND ANIMALS

teaching story used today in many an ecology humans Tigers and even mosquitoes eat hushyclass finds Zhuangzi in a game park trying to mans why should not humans eat other anishypoach a bit of dinner He trains his bow on a mals Moreover sacrifice was and still is critishystrange bird that is itself about to eat a mantis cally important to Daoist ritual Today Daoist about to eat a cicada He becomes so absorbed ceremonies observed by E N Anderson involve in this instructive tableau that he himself is alshy sacrifice and consumption of chickens and pigs most caught by the wardenP This is said to be and sometimes other animals It is thus clear that the incident that turned his mind to Daoist phishy Daoists differ from Buddhists in their tolerance losophy-as well it might of slaughter and consumption of animals

lransformation is another important aspect of animal life The Chinese knew that catershypillars transformed into butterflies grubs into The Zhuangzi andAnimal Minds wasps and so forth Zhuangzi provides a long string of transformations the germ in a seed The Zhuangzi uses animals in a new set ofways becomes the water-plantain which turns into that reflect both observation of (and interest other plants and then to insects eventually the in) their actual behavior and a keen sense of horse is produced and from the horse is born metaphor the human - a strange and still unexplained The first representation of the great knowlshyideals Liezi considerably expands this account edge (d4 zhi ~) that preoccupies the Inner adding several truly uncanny transformations Chapters of the Zhuangzi is as an animal or Sheeps liver changes into the goblin sheep rather the transformation with which the work underground The blood of horses and men begins the transformation of the Kun fish into become[s] the will-o-the-wisp 19 Such change the Peng bird in the first chapter of the Zhuanshy

and evolution is part of nature Everything gzi It is the Peng bird neither a human or a changes one can only resign oneself to the natushy divinity that first represents the greater perspecshyral flow of things tive The distinction between large and small

More seriously philosophical comments on perspective is elaborated first in the contrast beshydeath echo this account A dying sage says his tween the perspectives of the Peng Bird and the body may become a chariot and his spirit its turtledove that hops from branch to branch horses2o Such passages say something real about That distinction is elaborated in human terms in the world Even when animals are used for the Qiwu lun chapter of Book 2 In these passhypurely literary purposes we are never far from sages the Zhuangzi uses a melange of real and actual comments on nature Swallows symbolshy imaginary animals to comment on and recomshyize humble domesticity because they nest under mend human choices23 Animal minds demonshyeaves Lao Dan (the apocryphal Laozi) is a strate the desirable attitudes ofgreat perspective dragon in Zhuangzis metaphor21 Daoist relishy and detachment This kind ofmetaphor extends gious traditions developed moral charges that to the political In ~utumn Floods (Zhuanshyprotected animal life sometimes adopted vershy gzi 17) Zhuangzi himself uses the rhetorical exshybatim from Confucian and Buddhist works22 ample of the turtle dragging its tail in the mud The foundational Daoist texts are notably silent to emphasize the priority ofa natural and livable on these topics beyond a general charter to leave life over the demands and dangers of court life animals in as natural a state as possible The and high office Daoists seem not to have conceived ofa world in The Zhuangzi also uses animal minds to show which animals were not used for food clothing the limitations of attachment and loss of pershytraction and medicine They saw eating animals spective Zhuangzis quarry in the hunting park as a natural thing and therefore appropriate for (see above) is a strange magpie whose wings

280

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

are huge but get it nowhere and whose eyes are huge but dont see For all its uselessness -a theme of considerable importance in the Zhuangzi-it escapes his attentions because he

is distracted by the sight of the cicada stalked by the mantis stalked by the magpie stalked by Zhuangzi himself in Zhuangzi 20

Animals Gender and Morality

The uses of animals in the arguments of the two Classical Daoist texts and in early medishycal literature is even more striking if we contrast the use of birds and beasts in the arguments of other Warring States thinkers sometimes classed as Huang-Lao Daoism The Guanzi

contrasts animals negatively with the prehuman state before civilization In this and other texts the distinction betvveen men and women (nanshy

nu zhi bie is taken as the defining feashyture of human as opposed to animal society They ascribe the incorrect mingling ofthe sexes

among other things to the prehuman behavior of animals and to the quasi-bestial practices of primitive society before the civilizing influence of the sage-kings24 According to the Guanzi if ministers are allowed to indulge themselves

they will follow their desires and behave with reckless abandon Men and women will not be kept separate bur revert to being animals Conshysequently the rules of propriety righteous conshyduct integrity and a sense of shame will not

be established and the of men will have nothing with which to protect himself25

Part of the protection of the ruler is the order of human as opposed to animal society The distinction betveen men and women is

one of the defining features of human society Beasts by contrast do not segregate males and females26

The Shamanic Connection

An earlier generation of Sinologists often saw connections between Daoism and shamanism17

Shamanism a form of religious and curing acshytivity widespread in Asia involves shamans who send their souls to other realms in order to search our the cause and cure of personal and social ills and misfortunes There is every reashyson to pursue the issue for the Han Chinese world is surrounded by shamanistic societies The English word shaman is borrowed from

the Tungus languages Many Tungus groups live in China One of the Tungus languages Manshychu was the language of tVO Chinese dynasties (the Jin and Qing both ruled by Tungus conshyquerors) It would be inconceivable that China would not be influenced by shamanism Indeed the Chinese word wu ZlI which now covers a range of spirit mediums once clearly applied to shamans very similar in their practices to

the Tungus and Mongol ones8 Wu and Daoist adepts could both send their souls to the heavens and to the lands of the immortals as is clearly

seen in the Songs ofthe South and in many later Daoist writings29 Daoist adepts live in a unishyverse of meditation and inner travel similar to the shamanic one

A clear link with shamanic animal lore is the concern with transformations The general texts on transformation noted above presaged a flood of animal tales in later literature These often turn on the proneness of animals to take human shape or vice versa sometimes the transshy

formation becomes complete but at other times we are dealing with were-creatures Statements in Daoist texts about the flux and transformashytion of all things may have roots in shamanshyistic traditions as well as Chinese cosmological knowledge and belief

Another link betVeen shamanism and Chishynese folk religion is the concern with sacrifices and sacrificial animals In modern Daoist pracshytice elaborate sacrifices involve special preparashytion and treatment of the animals each cereshy

mony has its m place to place ~

logic and struct Daurs3o Howev animals is not v

ings surveyed he

of spiritual POWl guides in supern manism31 The n

and cranes used rean realms This with shamanism sometimes birds

ously dose The gion that reaches tral Asia seems a so far as it is reI about sacrifice a cance of dragon the tiger so un throughout its r

in Daoist texts know that the i foxes and fox s lished 33 The hug

mals of Zhuangz strange powers r manistic cosmol evidence of it C animals ofthe Sh tains and Seas)

ary experiences c real mountains

Shan Hai Jing ne text

Most particul seem completel

component so F about hunting ] Asia and all of

and shamanic 10 injunction not usually no more needs This viev Hefs about the an

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

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nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 5: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

laturalness is also onduct Accordshyhorses story In ual power or virshyived in sameness eby side as fellow atures13 Today

Way They subshyificial habits and ental constructs on this themeshyhuangzi were not III of whether (or rly minded Daoshyelativists remains ear that the early Jethicalschemas and so forth and II the spontaneity ng animals could

1 is and is not imshy texts portrayanishyns The Liezi deshyywith a man but ure tbem14 (This er dynasties even I Here again freeshy~tum for people

cases where it was and remove them nake it clear that to do that These imals understand ve and enter into achieve anything -sized fish with a d a wheat awn for ceeds by concenshyIt there is nothing xcept the cicadas ry of course is to to catch cicadas gnized the imporshythey had no illushy

allife A beautiful

279 DA01SM AND ANIMALS

teaching story used today in many an ecology humans Tigers and even mosquitoes eat hushyclass finds Zhuangzi in a game park trying to mans why should not humans eat other anishypoach a bit of dinner He trains his bow on a mals Moreover sacrifice was and still is critishystrange bird that is itself about to eat a mantis cally important to Daoist ritual Today Daoist about to eat a cicada He becomes so absorbed ceremonies observed by E N Anderson involve in this instructive tableau that he himself is alshy sacrifice and consumption of chickens and pigs most caught by the wardenP This is said to be and sometimes other animals It is thus clear that the incident that turned his mind to Daoist phishy Daoists differ from Buddhists in their tolerance losophy-as well it might of slaughter and consumption of animals

lransformation is another important aspect of animal life The Chinese knew that catershypillars transformed into butterflies grubs into The Zhuangzi andAnimal Minds wasps and so forth Zhuangzi provides a long string of transformations the germ in a seed The Zhuangzi uses animals in a new set ofways becomes the water-plantain which turns into that reflect both observation of (and interest other plants and then to insects eventually the in) their actual behavior and a keen sense of horse is produced and from the horse is born metaphor the human - a strange and still unexplained The first representation of the great knowlshyideals Liezi considerably expands this account edge (d4 zhi ~) that preoccupies the Inner adding several truly uncanny transformations Chapters of the Zhuangzi is as an animal or Sheeps liver changes into the goblin sheep rather the transformation with which the work underground The blood of horses and men begins the transformation of the Kun fish into become[s] the will-o-the-wisp 19 Such change the Peng bird in the first chapter of the Zhuanshy

and evolution is part of nature Everything gzi It is the Peng bird neither a human or a changes one can only resign oneself to the natushy divinity that first represents the greater perspecshyral flow of things tive The distinction between large and small

More seriously philosophical comments on perspective is elaborated first in the contrast beshydeath echo this account A dying sage says his tween the perspectives of the Peng Bird and the body may become a chariot and his spirit its turtledove that hops from branch to branch horses2o Such passages say something real about That distinction is elaborated in human terms in the world Even when animals are used for the Qiwu lun chapter of Book 2 In these passhypurely literary purposes we are never far from sages the Zhuangzi uses a melange of real and actual comments on nature Swallows symbolshy imaginary animals to comment on and recomshyize humble domesticity because they nest under mend human choices23 Animal minds demonshyeaves Lao Dan (the apocryphal Laozi) is a strate the desirable attitudes ofgreat perspective dragon in Zhuangzis metaphor21 Daoist relishy and detachment This kind ofmetaphor extends gious traditions developed moral charges that to the political In ~utumn Floods (Zhuanshyprotected animal life sometimes adopted vershy gzi 17) Zhuangzi himself uses the rhetorical exshybatim from Confucian and Buddhist works22 ample of the turtle dragging its tail in the mud The foundational Daoist texts are notably silent to emphasize the priority ofa natural and livable on these topics beyond a general charter to leave life over the demands and dangers of court life animals in as natural a state as possible The and high office Daoists seem not to have conceived ofa world in The Zhuangzi also uses animal minds to show which animals were not used for food clothing the limitations of attachment and loss of pershytraction and medicine They saw eating animals spective Zhuangzis quarry in the hunting park as a natural thing and therefore appropriate for (see above) is a strange magpie whose wings

280

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

are huge but get it nowhere and whose eyes are huge but dont see For all its uselessness -a theme of considerable importance in the Zhuangzi-it escapes his attentions because he

is distracted by the sight of the cicada stalked by the mantis stalked by the magpie stalked by Zhuangzi himself in Zhuangzi 20

Animals Gender and Morality

The uses of animals in the arguments of the two Classical Daoist texts and in early medishycal literature is even more striking if we contrast the use of birds and beasts in the arguments of other Warring States thinkers sometimes classed as Huang-Lao Daoism The Guanzi

contrasts animals negatively with the prehuman state before civilization In this and other texts the distinction betvveen men and women (nanshy

nu zhi bie is taken as the defining feashyture of human as opposed to animal society They ascribe the incorrect mingling ofthe sexes

among other things to the prehuman behavior of animals and to the quasi-bestial practices of primitive society before the civilizing influence of the sage-kings24 According to the Guanzi if ministers are allowed to indulge themselves

they will follow their desires and behave with reckless abandon Men and women will not be kept separate bur revert to being animals Conshysequently the rules of propriety righteous conshyduct integrity and a sense of shame will not

be established and the of men will have nothing with which to protect himself25

Part of the protection of the ruler is the order of human as opposed to animal society The distinction betveen men and women is

one of the defining features of human society Beasts by contrast do not segregate males and females26

The Shamanic Connection

An earlier generation of Sinologists often saw connections between Daoism and shamanism17

Shamanism a form of religious and curing acshytivity widespread in Asia involves shamans who send their souls to other realms in order to search our the cause and cure of personal and social ills and misfortunes There is every reashyson to pursue the issue for the Han Chinese world is surrounded by shamanistic societies The English word shaman is borrowed from

the Tungus languages Many Tungus groups live in China One of the Tungus languages Manshychu was the language of tVO Chinese dynasties (the Jin and Qing both ruled by Tungus conshyquerors) It would be inconceivable that China would not be influenced by shamanism Indeed the Chinese word wu ZlI which now covers a range of spirit mediums once clearly applied to shamans very similar in their practices to

the Tungus and Mongol ones8 Wu and Daoist adepts could both send their souls to the heavens and to the lands of the immortals as is clearly

seen in the Songs ofthe South and in many later Daoist writings29 Daoist adepts live in a unishyverse of meditation and inner travel similar to the shamanic one

A clear link with shamanic animal lore is the concern with transformations The general texts on transformation noted above presaged a flood of animal tales in later literature These often turn on the proneness of animals to take human shape or vice versa sometimes the transshy

formation becomes complete but at other times we are dealing with were-creatures Statements in Daoist texts about the flux and transformashytion of all things may have roots in shamanshyistic traditions as well as Chinese cosmological knowledge and belief

Another link betVeen shamanism and Chishynese folk religion is the concern with sacrifices and sacrificial animals In modern Daoist pracshytice elaborate sacrifices involve special preparashytion and treatment of the animals each cereshy

mony has its m place to place ~

logic and struct Daurs3o Howev animals is not v

ings surveyed he

of spiritual POWl guides in supern manism31 The n

and cranes used rean realms This with shamanism sometimes birds

ously dose The gion that reaches tral Asia seems a so far as it is reI about sacrifice a cance of dragon the tiger so un throughout its r

in Daoist texts know that the i foxes and fox s lished 33 The hug

mals of Zhuangz strange powers r manistic cosmol evidence of it C animals ofthe Sh tains and Seas)

ary experiences c real mountains

Shan Hai Jing ne text

Most particul seem completel

component so F about hunting ] Asia and all of

and shamanic 10 injunction not usually no more needs This viev Hefs about the an

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 6: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

280

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

are huge but get it nowhere and whose eyes are huge but dont see For all its uselessness -a theme of considerable importance in the Zhuangzi-it escapes his attentions because he

is distracted by the sight of the cicada stalked by the mantis stalked by the magpie stalked by Zhuangzi himself in Zhuangzi 20

Animals Gender and Morality

The uses of animals in the arguments of the two Classical Daoist texts and in early medishycal literature is even more striking if we contrast the use of birds and beasts in the arguments of other Warring States thinkers sometimes classed as Huang-Lao Daoism The Guanzi

contrasts animals negatively with the prehuman state before civilization In this and other texts the distinction betvveen men and women (nanshy

nu zhi bie is taken as the defining feashyture of human as opposed to animal society They ascribe the incorrect mingling ofthe sexes

among other things to the prehuman behavior of animals and to the quasi-bestial practices of primitive society before the civilizing influence of the sage-kings24 According to the Guanzi if ministers are allowed to indulge themselves

they will follow their desires and behave with reckless abandon Men and women will not be kept separate bur revert to being animals Conshysequently the rules of propriety righteous conshyduct integrity and a sense of shame will not

be established and the of men will have nothing with which to protect himself25

Part of the protection of the ruler is the order of human as opposed to animal society The distinction betveen men and women is

one of the defining features of human society Beasts by contrast do not segregate males and females26

The Shamanic Connection

An earlier generation of Sinologists often saw connections between Daoism and shamanism17

Shamanism a form of religious and curing acshytivity widespread in Asia involves shamans who send their souls to other realms in order to search our the cause and cure of personal and social ills and misfortunes There is every reashyson to pursue the issue for the Han Chinese world is surrounded by shamanistic societies The English word shaman is borrowed from

the Tungus languages Many Tungus groups live in China One of the Tungus languages Manshychu was the language of tVO Chinese dynasties (the Jin and Qing both ruled by Tungus conshyquerors) It would be inconceivable that China would not be influenced by shamanism Indeed the Chinese word wu ZlI which now covers a range of spirit mediums once clearly applied to shamans very similar in their practices to

the Tungus and Mongol ones8 Wu and Daoist adepts could both send their souls to the heavens and to the lands of the immortals as is clearly

seen in the Songs ofthe South and in many later Daoist writings29 Daoist adepts live in a unishyverse of meditation and inner travel similar to the shamanic one

A clear link with shamanic animal lore is the concern with transformations The general texts on transformation noted above presaged a flood of animal tales in later literature These often turn on the proneness of animals to take human shape or vice versa sometimes the transshy

formation becomes complete but at other times we are dealing with were-creatures Statements in Daoist texts about the flux and transformashytion of all things may have roots in shamanshyistic traditions as well as Chinese cosmological knowledge and belief

Another link betVeen shamanism and Chishynese folk religion is the concern with sacrifices and sacrificial animals In modern Daoist pracshytice elaborate sacrifices involve special preparashytion and treatment of the animals each cereshy

mony has its m place to place ~

logic and struct Daurs3o Howev animals is not v

ings surveyed he

of spiritual POWl guides in supern manism31 The n

and cranes used rean realms This with shamanism sometimes birds

ously dose The gion that reaches tral Asia seems a so far as it is reI about sacrifice a cance of dragon the tiger so un throughout its r

in Daoist texts know that the i foxes and fox s lished 33 The hug

mals of Zhuangz strange powers r manistic cosmol evidence of it C animals ofthe Sh tains and Seas)

ary experiences c real mountains

Shan Hai Jing ne text

Most particul seem completel

component so F about hunting ] Asia and all of

and shamanic 10 injunction not usually no more needs This viev Hefs about the an

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 7: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

ologists often saw and shamanism 27

)Us and curing acshylives shamans who ~alms in order to e of personal and here is every reashy

the Han Chinese nanistic societies is borrowed from

lingus groups live languages Manshy

Chinese dynasties j by Tungus conshyivable that China unanism Indeed ich now covers a

e clearly applied heir practices to

8 Wu and Daoist

uls to the heavens rtals as is clearly

nd in many later Its live in a unishytravel similar to

c animal lore is Jns The general above presaged literature These

animals to take ~times the transshy

lit at other times Ires Statements llld transformashyots in shamanshy

se cosmological

lIlism and Chishy

t with sacrifices rn Daoist pracshypecial preparashytals each cereshy

281

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

many has its own patterns which vary from mented for Altaic peoples on Chinas fringe34

place to place This is similar to the complex Animals and animal parts are to be treated with logic and structuring of sacrifice among the reverence This view may well be latent beshyDaurs3D However the shamanistic bond with hind Liezis deer story and several other Daoshyanimals is not very visible in the Daoist writshy ist stories but it is not made explicit nor do ings surveyed here Animals are not the sources any such moral teachings occur in Daoist writshyof spiritual power nor are they companions or ings Early Daoist teachings move us away from guides in supernatural travel as they are in shashy explicit moral rules toward a meditative and manism31 The nearest we come are the dragons aware state in which we can naturally act in and cranes used as mounts for travel to empyshy an appropriate manner Even shamanic moral rean realms This is indeed no doubt connected rules may have smacked too much of proprishywith shamanism shamans ride spirit horses and ety and self-righteousness for the early Daoists sometimes birds But the connection is not obvishy Later Daoist religious communities adopted a ously close The whole complex of animal relishy variety of moral codes including the animalshygion that reaches such incredible heights in censhy related ones noted above but they came from tral Asia seems absent from Daoism except in Confucian and Buddhist teachings not from so far as it is related to general Chinese beliefs shamanism35

about sacrifice and about the magical signifishy These texts contain an implicit and someshycance of dragons turtles and the like32 Even times explicitly moral view of animals Animals the tiger so universally revered in folk cults have their own natures their own dao and hushy

throughout its range gets no special treatment mans should not interfere unless necessary Such in Daoist texts Nor does the fox though we an attitude contains an implicit conservation know that the incredibly rich folklore about ethic obviously Daoists do not like to see lavish foxes and fox spirits was already well estabshy and conspicuous consumption nor do they like

lished33 The huge uncanny and imaginary anishy to see animals used for any purpose unless real mals of Zhuangzis and Liezis stories with their necessity is involved Destructive uses clearly strange powers might hark back a visionary shashy violate the animals dao Animals are spontashymanistic cosmology but they give no obvious neous able to live their good lives without worry evidence of it Conversely the bizarre imaginary about rites and ceremonies morals and duties animals of the Shan HaiJing (Classic of Mounshy They do all that they need to do without thinkshytains and Seas) are almost certainly the visionshy ing and nothing more We are better advised to

ary experiences of shamans traveling to the unshy learn from them than to kill or abuse them real mountains and seas in question but the Shan Hai Jing never became a canonical Daoist text The Uses ofAnimaLs In Early Daoist Texts

Most particularly the early Daoist sources seem completely lacking in the strong moral THE WARRING STATES

component so prominent in shamanistic lore about hunting Throughout most of northeast Warring States quasi-Daoist accounts of anishyAsia and all of North America myths tales mals vary widely and they may contain a few and shamanic lore encode a very strong moral surprises Animals are almost completely absent

injunction not to take too many animalsshy from the Dao de jing but as we have seen apshyusually no more than ones family immediately pear frequently in the Zhuangzi as well as in needs This view shored up by spiritual beshy the political rhetoric of the Guanzi and other liefs about the animals themselves is well docu- Warring States texts associated with Huang-Lao

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 8: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Daoism In addition they appear in recently excavated texts in contexts that range from recipes used to treat animal-inflicted injuries to metaphors for body movement in sexual arts literature

DAO AS INANIMATE IN THE DAO DE fING

Animals are conspicuously absent from the many descriptions of dao in the Dao de jingo Its metaphors for dao are inanimate (water the valshyley the uncarved block) or not quite human (the unformed infant) and conspicuously do not inshyclude animals either singly or collectively

Animals are not used as positive metaphors for dao Indeed they are used as illustrations of the kind of negative happenstance that Daoist self-cultivation protects against Verse 55 begins

One who embraces the fullness of Virtue

Can be compared to a newborn babe

Wasps and scorpions snakes and vipers do

not sting him

Birds of prey and fierce beasts do not seize

him36

Here animals are clearly viewed as sources of harm and injury Early medical texts found in the same tomb as the oldest extant version of the Dao de jing flesh out this concern and they also present a more positive and imaginashytive depiction of animals in metaphors for body movement

Cures for Animal-injlicted Injuries

Before the second century prevailing views (and methods of treatment) of disease treated illshyness as the invasive influence of external forces including natural forces (wind heat cold) demonic entities and magical influence and animal-inflicted injuries including bites and the effects of parasites and insects37 Recent excavashytions of tombs from Mawangdui and elsewhere have yielded valuable medical documents that

provide new information about early Chinese medical theories The premier medical docushyment found at Mawangdui is the Recipes for Fifty-two Ailments (Wushier bingfong m1J) This late-third-century compendium is the oldest extant exemplar of a medical recipe manual one of the oldest genres of medical litshyerature Its recipes are listed in fifry-two cateshygories which form the organizing principle of the text (each category contains up to thirty recipes) Animal bites and related injuries are inshycluded in several of these recipes for mad dog bites (category 6) dog bites (category 7) crows beak poisoning (category IO) scorpions (cateshygory II) leech bites (category 12) lizards (cateshygory 13) grain borer ailment (category 18) magshygots (category 19) chewing by bugs (category 46) and gu poisoning (category 49)38

ANIMALS AS METAPHORS FOR

WHOLE-BODY MOVEMENT

The Mawangdui texts also present us with an equally early and much friendlier view of anishymals the use of animal movements as metashyphors to describe whole-body movements that do not otherwise lend themselves to clear deshyscription The same kinds of metaphors appear in the later literature of Daoist-inspired martial arts where the modes of movement of cranes mantises and other creatures are taken as modshyels for the defense and attack of martial artists These late examples of the use ofthe movements ofanimals may be the Chinese animal imagery most familiar to the nonspecialist

The first known uses of these metaphors are in Daoist sexual technique literature of which the earliest examples extant come from the tomb excavations at Mawangdui and Jiangjiashan39

The Mawangdui texts Uniting Yin and Yang (He yin yang Jftl ~ Illj) and Discussion of the Dao of Heaven (Tianxia zhi dao tan ili~) each contains a section that refer to the movements and postures of animals as wholeshybody metaphors for sexual techniques and posshytures

-smW =[

1is~~ IE

It tLsliilJ~

The first is callt

cada clinging t

roe deer buttir the sixth mom the moon the c

dragonflies and

Similar exerci Book (Yinshu sh at Zhangjiashan i that refer to or an ing inchworms owls tigers chic dragons41

Six Dynasties DaG

Now let us turn t animals in Six D

HUMAN-ANIMAL

DAOIST HAGIOG

The Daoist hagj(

are equally sparin marks the sages are interactions mortality distin of secret texts ar

the remarkable ~ by visitation by a birds would app duse Jie Zitui (ii (mm~) raised c gardener Yuan K colored butterfllc

Some do inte animal associate(

Ma Shihuang Ci1 the veterinarian dragon who too~

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 9: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

early Chinese medical docushyhe Recipes for

ifang -B-+ = )mpendium is medical recipe of medical litshyfifty-two cateshy

Ig principle of 5 up to thirty injuries are inshy

s for mad dog gory 7) crows orpions (cateshy lizards (cateshy

gory 18) magshyJUgs (category ~9)middot38

nt us with an r view of anishylents as metashyovements that ~s to clear deshy

aphors appear lspired martial lent of cranes taken as modshy

martial artists he movements limal imagery

metaphors are ture of which trom the tomb

fiangjiashan39

in and Yang

ussion of the

ro tan RT Z at refer to the lalS as wholeshy

ques and posshy

283

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

~BmWf =B$[lft -=BRJI IZlBipoundltfiJ Shi Men (m F~) lived on flowers fish and leaves

1iBIjpound~ 1Bsecti [1Rl~ tBJill~ B~ and was a master of dragons (LXZ 14) In two of

Jl fLB~rJi +B~UI these accounts the human transforms into one of the immortal animals Huang Di (j[ wn is

The first is called roaming tiger the second cishy described as having the form of a dragon (fi

cada clinging the third inchworm the fourth ~Jf LXZ 5)42 In other accounts the appearshyroe deer butting the fifth locust spreading ance of the dragon is heralded by a more ordishythe sixth monkey squat the seventh toad in nary animal A red bird appears over the forge the moon the eighth rabbit startled the ninth of the blacksmith Tao Angong (1liiV~0) to tell dragonflies and the tenth fish gobbling40 him that a red dragon would come for him and

carry him away on its back (LXZ 60) In a simishySimilar exercises described in the Pulling lar story Zi Ying (~~) catches a carp and feeds

Book (Yinshu shiwen iJ IiH slJ a text found it It grows horns and wings he mounts its back

at Zhangjiashan in Jiangling describes exercises and flies away (LXZ 55) that refer to or are named after animals includshy Even the story of Mao Nil (=sectfr) who grows ing inchworms snakes mantises wild ducks animal-like hair involves no extended humanshyowls tigers chickens bears frogs deer and animal interaction Seen by hunters over sevshydragons41 eral generations the Furry Woman fled the

palace of Qin Shi Huang Di at the end of the Qin dynasty According to the hagiography she

Six Dynasties Daoism was taught by a Daoist to live on pine nuts and

spontaneously grew a coat of hair (LXZ 54) Now let us turn to a few examples of the use of In summary on the basis of this evidence we animals in Six Dynasties and Tang Daoist texts can make a few speculative observations about

the presence and absence of animals in so-called HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS IN Lao-Zhuang and Six Dynasties Daoist texts DAOIST HAGIOGRAPHIES Despite the considerable prevalence of anishy

mals (like plants) in early Chinese texts speshy

The Daoist hagiographies of the Six Dynasties cial interactions with animals are not an ingredishy

are equally sparing in their use of animals What ent of the hagiographies of the Liexianzhuanshy

marks the sages of the Liexianzhuan ()11j 1LlI1~) the topos of the lifesaving nurture of abandoned are interactions with immortals longevity imshy or refugee infants children or women by wild

mortality distinct dietary habits and receipt animals Even the Furry Woman of the Lieshy

of secret texts and techniques In a few cases xianzhuan learns to survive by the instruction the remarkable qualities of the sage are shown of a Daoist not by imitating wild beasts Anishy

by visitation by animals Every morning yellow mals do appear in these stories as vehicles for hushybirds would appear at the door of the Jin reshy mans who cross the boundary between Heaven

cluse Jie Zitui (fr~ti) (LXZ 19) Zhu Qiweng and Earth mortality and immortality usually (tJtm~) raised chickens and fish (LXZ 36) the by mounting to heaven on the back of a dragon

gardener Yuan Ke (0 ~~) was visited by five But as in earlier texts animals seem largely to

colored butterflies (LXZ 47) be used as examples of living naturally Some do interact in various ways with the

animal associated with immortality the dragon

Ma Shihuang C~m~) (Horse Master Huang) the veterinarian of Huang Di once cured a dragon who took him away on its back (LXZ 3)

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 10: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

STRANGE ANIMALS IN THE

ZHIGUAI GENRE

Several texts within the genre of zhiguai CGtl) or anomaly literature contain extensive acshy

counts of animal anomalies as well as contrastshy

ing accounts of animal norms 43 The Bowushy

zhi (t~t7JG) or Treatise on Curiosities of Zhang

Hua (~) (232-300) is organized by thirtyshy

nine subject headings of which four concern

animal anomalies These are Marvelous beasts

(~IA yi shou) Marvelous birds (~~ yi niao)

Marvelous insects (~~ yi chong) and Marshy

velous fish (~m yi yu)

The Soushen ji (J5Ilt$~c) or Records ofan Inshy

quest in to the Spirit Realm by Gan Bao cp Jlf (335-349) also contains five very different chapshy

ters that bear on animals monstrous creatures

transformation of humans into plants and anishy

mals spirits of mammals snake and fish spirits

and accounts of rewards and retribution byanishy

mals The third juan of the Yi Yuan (~ffi)

or Garden of Marvels by Liu Jingshu (iz tx) (fl early 5C) is devoted to fifty-seven items of

anomalies involving animals birds (I-I2) tigers

(13-17) dragons and snakes (33-47) turtles and

fish (48-52) and shellfish and insects (53-57)

The Soushen houji (J5Ilt$1~~C) or Further Records

ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm (late Song or

early Qi) contains a section (ro) of tales involvshy

ing dragons krakens and large snakes Of these

we explore the account in the Soushen ji at some

length

EXPLANATION FOR POSSESSIONS

AND ANOMALIES

As Rob Campanyas pointed out in his study of

anomaly literature the animal anomaly stories

in the Soushen ji portray several different modes

of anomaly of which most involve crossing the

animal-human boundary These include a vashy

riety of human-animal hybrids and a range of

transformations among individual species genshy

ders within species humans animals and spirshy

its both human and animal44

The sixth chapter of the Soushen ji begins

by explaining the occurrence of possessions and

anomalies

Possessions and anomalies (yao guai) prevail

over a things essential qi (Jirlg qi) and reconfigshy

ure it (~3dpound1ll lyen[ffl$LltxtJJ1llfu) Internally

the qi is disordered externally the thing is transshy

formed ifwe rely on prognostication ofgood

and malauspice (~ L ~) in all these cases it

is possible to delimit and discuss them45

Some cases are partial transformations where

an animal or human grows an extra or inapshy

propriate body parts a tortoise growing hair

and a hare horns46 cows horses or birds with

extra legs47 and horses dogs and men growshy

ing horns48 In other cases the transformation

is complete and an animal (or human) changes

entirely into another for example a horse to

a fox49 or bears offspring of another species

Cases of cross-species matings and anomalous

births include a horse bearing a human child50

a dog mating with a pig51swallows hatching sparrows52 falcons53 and the birth of twoshy

headed children54 In one case a cow bears a

chicken with four feet 55 Sometimes the transshy

formation is of gender a woman turning into

a man marrying and siring children56 a man

turning into a woman marrying and bearing

children57 and a hen becoming a cock58 All

these anomalies are ascribed to rulers of the

Han and Later Han dynasties and the Three

Kingdoms period Again the fascination with

the bizarre and surreal continues from Warring

States times and traditions It and the longevity

cult rather undercut the naturalistic side of Oaoshy

ism a point noted by Chinese scholars as well

as modern readers

NATURAL AND ANOMALOUS

ANIMAL TRANSFORMATIONS

The nineteen items of Book 12 of the Soushen ji

describe both natural and anomalous transforshy

mations of animals The first item in Book I2 exshy

plains how the m

formed from the

metal water and

mals made of on

lar forms and Sil

grain (human soc

ture eaters ofgra

mind creatures

duce silk and bec

are courageous f that eat mud lac

passage returns H

on primal energi

lives those that

become numino

It goes on to

mals in several ot

mode (JItlE it ci

by their male

Creatures that la

other creatures t(

hen mode nee

tures to reprodt

of how animals (

one into another

mations is that

have upward afIil

list downwards bull

1pound~~m)61

The text goes

tions within cate

to be counted

The movemer

follows consta

take a wrong (

appear If a

or a beast to a

($L~L1ll)~

woman becon

tion of qi62

Other chappound(

other anomalies

eluding transfo

and animals (S

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 11: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

I

tshen ji begins lossessions and

o guai) prevail

i) and reconfigshy

Hh) Internally

e thing is transshy

tication ofgood

11 these cases it them45

nations where

extra or inapshy

growing hair or birds with

Id men growshyransformation

man) changes Ie a horse to

Other species

rid anomalous tuman child50

lows hatching )1rth of twoshy

a cow bears a

nes the transshy

turning into lren56 a man

~ and bearing a cock 58 All

rulers of the

nd the Three

cination with

from Warring the longevity

c side of Daoshyholars as well

the 50ushen ji Jous transforshy

tn Book I2 exshy

285

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

plains how the myriad creatures (wan wu) were of mammals (55] I8) accounts of snake and formed from the five qi of heaven (wood fire fish spirits (55] I9) and accounts of reward and metal water and earth) Its premise is that anishy retribution by animals (55] 20) These humanshy

mals made of one kind of qi will display simishy animal transformations include a horse into a

lar forms and similar natures Thus eaters of silkworm63 women to birds64 and women into

grain (human society) have intelligence and culshy turtles (3 cases)65 In the first of the seven fox

ture eaters of grass have great strength and little or fox spirit stories in the eighteenth chapter of

mind creatures that eat mulberry leaves proshy the 50ushen ji a man turns to a fox in the presshy

duce silk and become caterpillars eaters ofmeat ence of the Han dynasty Confucian philososhyare courageous fierce and high-spirited things pher and anomaly specialist Dong Zhongshu66

that eat mud lack mind and breath Now the Other stories in this chapter involve deer sow passage returns to human beings those that feed and dog spirits and a rat Chapter 19 contains

on primal energies become sages and enjoy long six stories of snake fish and turtle spirits lives those that do not eat at all do not die and Chapter 20 presents a different kind of anishybecome numinous immortals (shen)59 mal account sixteen stories ofrewards and retrishy

It goes on to classify the natures of anishy bution involving animals In some cases hushy

mals in several other ways One is cock and hen mans extend human compassion to animals

mode (iltlEfflo ci xiong) that is to classify them and are rewarded Several of these stories speshyby their male and female characteristics60 cifically involve medical knowledge One Sun Creatures that lack cock mode must mate with Deng of Wei perceived that a dragon was ill other creatures to reproduce creatures that lack it transformed into a man he cured it and it

hen mode need the nurturing of other creashy rewarded the district with rains67 In another

tures to reproduce It proceeds to an account story a tiger abducts a midwife named Su Yi of how animals of one kind naturally transform to its lair where she delivers the tigress of a

one into another the principle of these transforshy breach birth The tiger returns her home and reshymations is that creatures of the heavenly son wards her with gifts of game68 In other cases a have upward affinities those with earthly origins black crane an oriole a serpent and a turtle reshylist downwards Each thing follows its kind (1tshy turn and reward the humans that cure and free

61 them69 In other humans show compasshy

The text goes on to explain that transformashy sion to fish ants and a snake7deg In one a man

tions within category are normal and too many is saved from false imprisonment and death by to be counted a mole cricket he feeds71 In these cases humans

extend the benefits of human morality to anishy

The movement of things in response to change mals who react in kind In other cases animals

follows constant ways and it is only when things spontaneously act with human qualities Two

take a wrong direction that injurious anomalies such stories involve dogs72 Other stories involve appear Ifa human gives birth to a beast (shou) misbehaving humans and animals who act hushy

or a beast to a human it is case of qi in disorder manely A mother gibbon suicides when a man

(~L ~_1J) When a man becomes a woman or a catches and then kills her baby73 A (talking)

woman becomes a man it is a case of transposishy deer and a serpent bring retribution in the form tion of qi62 of sudden illness on hunters who kill them74

Other chapters go on to record animal and other anomalies without further explanation inshy

cluding transformations of humans into plants

and animals (55] 14) accounts of the spirits

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 12: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

286

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

Animals and Traditional Chinese Medicine mas and teaches us to treat them with respect On the other hand Daoism is not a philosophy

This brief account has hardly touched on sevshy of animal rights in the modern sense Daoists eral other ways in which animals figure in Daoist thought it natural to use animals for food sacshyand Daoist-influenced traditions One of these rifice and service However they held that anishyis the sobering case of the use of animals in mals should not be used in ways that make them traditional Chinese medicine which stands in act contrary to their own natures utter contrast to these Han and Six dynasty acshy Second these early Daoist writings espeshycounts of human-animal moral reciprocity Anishy cially the Zhuangzi were centrally important mals are the objects or means of cure in variety for the development of a distinctive aesthetic of medical texts Animals both living and dead among the educated elites both scholarly and appear as elements in the treatment of disease artistic The impact of this style went far beshyIn some cases live animals are used in ritual yond Daoism in any sense of the term Appreshycures in others medications made from anishy ciation for the simple and natural led to a taste mal products are used as treatments it for flowering apricots (meihua flit IT) mounshyhere simply to mention the complex overlap of tains streams and other beauties of nature ReshyDaoism alchemy and medicine in the works of cluses chanted poems or played the qin while such figures as Ge Hong (283-343) Tao Hongshy admiring spectacular scenery Tao Qian one of jing (456-5)6) and Sun Simiao (581-682)75 The the figures most associated with this style made use of animals in medicine is also of the greatshy a cultural icon of the chrysanthemum which est practical importance since the (often illeshy he knew as a humble roadside weed (Supposshygal) killing of animals for medical products is edly it became a garden flower because of his a major factor in the depletion of many endanshy love for it so todays huge florist mums are a

gered animal species today This problematic reshy later innovation) This distinctive way of lookshylation to animals dates from our earliest records ing at the world persisted through Chinese hisshyof medical practice Animal products as comshy tory and spread widely in eastern Asia More reshyponents of medical recipes go back as far as the cently it has influenced the West and through Fifty-two Ailments6 The use ofanimal products individuals such as the poet Gary Snyder it has in traditional Chinese medicine continues to the materially influenced environmentalist thought

present day In this sense Daoism implies a morality of reshyspect for the inner nature of things and for the place ofall things in the vast ever-changing cosshy

Conclusions mic flow Today Daoist thinking might find its best

Vhat can the contemporary world learn from use in ecosystem management It could be the early Daoist attitudes toward animals First the grounding philosophy for a view that does not Daoists did not see a sharp barrier between peoshy separate humanity from nature that looks at ple and animals or more generally between hushy the whole not just at segmented parts and that manity and nature In fact they saw humans focuses on the inevitable flow and change of and animals as mutually dependent and inshy things not on static and frozen moments Curshy

deed regularly prone to change into each other rently environmental management suffers from Change and transformation are seen in Daoism the opposite tendencies It usually separates nashyas universal and necessary human beings can ture or the natural ecosystem as a reified enshy

only adapt to the changes in the cosmos and tity It tends to look at one problem at a time theydo best by going along with them In a deep birds here insects there rather than the intershyand basic sense dao unites humans and ani- relationship of birds insects and the rest It

usually attempts to pre cies or a local habitat change is inevitable an(

cies accordingly For exa an endangered bird w(

habitat to provide a safe

1 For translation see Book ofOdes (Stockholn

Antiquities 1950)

2 Zhuangzi yinde itt the Zhuangzi] (Shanghai

90 -95 For translation s tzu The Inner Chapters ( Unwin 1981) p IIO

3 Zhuangzi 914-1

p 205)middot 4 Edward Schafer

University of California

5 Zhuangzi ISS-r p 265) These practices

6 Schafer Pacing th 7 Caroline Humph

ford Oxford Universil Faune et Flore sacrees da Adien-Maisoaneuve I~

8 Zhuangzi 294shy

p6I) 9 Humphrey Shan 10 Ibid II Zhuangzi 1788

p 12 3) 12 A possible eXal

subjects is discussed b this volume However is no indication in the

humans 13 Zhuangzi 99 (C 14 Liezi JjIFf 2 p 2

translation see A C C

(London John Murra

15 Liezi 5 pp 58-~ 16 Zhuangzi 19 laquo

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 13: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

hem with respect

not a philosophy

rn sense Daoists

lalS for food sacshy

ley held that anishy$ that make them res

t writings espeshy

Itrally important

inctive aesthetic

th scholarly and

ric went far beshy

he term Appreshy

raIled to a taste

( it mounshy

es ofnature Reshy

d the qin while

ao Qian one of

this style made

hemum which

weed (Supposshy

because of his t mums are a

re way of lookshy

~h Chinese hi5shy

IAsia More reshy

t and through

y Snyder it has

nallst thought

morality of reshy

gs and for the

-changing cosshy

t find its best

t could be the

that does not

that looks at

gtarts and that

nef change of

oments Curshy

t suffers from

separates nashy

s a reified enshy

~m at a time an the intershy

f the rest It

287

DAOISM AND ANIMALS

usually attempts to preserve an individual speshy phe Ecologists and conservation biologists have

cies or a local habitat rather than seeing that criticized this but the Endangered Species Act is change is inevitable and setting goals and polishy still focused on the species not the totality Pershy

cies accordingly For example when we preserve haps conservation biologists need more Daoist

an endangered bird we rarely preserve enough training

habitat to provide a safeguard in case ofcatastro-

NOTES

I For translation see Bernhard Karlgren The The reader may be interested in why anyone would

Book of Odes (Srockholm Museum of Far Eastern catch cicadas E N Anderson has often observed

Antiquities 1950) the practice in China Cicadas are used for chicken

2 Zhuangzi yinde l1f -f iJ If~ [A Concordance to feed and as noisy and active pets for young people

the Zhuangzil (Shangbai Guji chubanshe 1982) 24 Small boys especially delight in the cicadas loud

90-95 For translation see A C Graham Chuangshy songs and sometimes torment proper young girls

tzu The Inner Chapters (London George Allen and therewith Naturally such buyers are not affluent

Unwin 1981) p lIO and cicada-catching affords a very modest living

3 Zhuangzi 914-16 (Graham Chuang-tzu As he almost always does Zhuangzi is picking his

pmiddot205)middot human exemplar from the most humble sectors of

4 Edward Schafer Pacing the Void (Berkeley society

University of California Press 1977) 17 Zhuangzi 2061-68 (Graham Chuang-tzu

5 Zhuangzi 155-6 (Graham Chuang-tzu p II8)

p 265) These practices are discussed below 18 Zhuangzi 1840-45 (Grmam Chuang-tzu 6 Schafer Pacing the Void passim p 184)

7 Caroline Humphrey Shamans andElders (Oxshy 19 Liezi I pp 4-5 (Grallam Lieh-tzu p 21)

ford Oxford University Press 1996) Jean Roux 20 Zhuangzi 651-52 (Graham Chuang-fLu Faune et Flore sacries dans les sociietis altaiques (Paris p88)

Adien-Maisonneuve1966) 21 Zhuangzi 1460-64 (Graham Chuang-tzu

8 Zhuangzi 294-96 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 2I4)

p6I) 22 See Livia Kohn The Taoist Experience (Alshy

9 Humphrey Shamans bany SUNY Press 1993)

10 Ibid 23 Lisa Raphals Skeptical Strategies in the

II Zhuangzi 1788-91 (Graham Chuang-tzu Zhuangzi and Theaetetus Philosophy East and West

p 123) 44 no 3 (July 1994) 501-26 Reprinted as chapter

12 A possible example of the communion of in Zhuangzi and Skepticism eds PJ Ivanhoe and

subjects is discussed by Thomas Berry elsewhere in Paul Kjellberg Albany SUNY Press

this volume However it should be noted that there 24 Lisa Raphals Sharing the Light Representashyis no indication in the stoty that animals undetstand tions of W0men and Virtue in Early China (Albany

humans SUNY Press 1998) ch 8

13middot Zhuangzi 99 (Grallam Chuang-tzu p 205) 25 Guanzilfi-f (Sibu beiyao edition) XXI 6pb

14 2 p 21 (Zhuzi jichengedition) For For translation see W Allyn Rickett Guanzi Poshyttanslation see A C Graham The Book ofLieh-tzu litical Economic and Philosophical Essays from Early (London John Murray 1960) p 45 China (Princeton Princeton University Press 1985)

15middot Liezi 5 pp 58-59 (Graham Lieh-tzu p 105) vol I pp 110-II

16 Zhuangzi 19 (Graham Chuang-tzu p 138) 26 The definition of human society by the disshy

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 14: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

ANDERSON

tinction between men and women also occurs at

GuanziXI 311a (Rickett Guanzi p 412)

27 For example see Arthur Waley The Nine

Songs A Study ofShamanism in Ancient China (Lonshy

don George Allen and Unwin 1955)

28 See eg ibid

29 See David Hawkes Chu Tzu The Songs of

the South (Oxford Oxford University Press 1959)

Waley Nine Songs Schafer Pacing the Void

30 Humphrey Shamans

31 Mongush B Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic Songs

and Myths of Tuva (Budapest Akademiai Kiado

1997) Roux Faune and S M Shirokogoroff Psyshy

chomental Complex of the Tungus (London Kegan

Paul 1935) and Carmen Blacker The Catalpa Bow

A Study ofShamanistic Practices in Japan (London

George Allen and Unwin 1986) 2nd ed Judging

from Blackers work Japanese shamanism is less

concerned with animals than the Chinese texts conshy

sidered here

32 Roux Faune passim

33 Han texts tell us for instance of the nineshy

tailed fox a frightening supernatural being In Chishy

nese popular and literary traditions fox spirits are

often malevolent and inauspicious

34 See for instance Kenin-Lopsan Shamanic

Songs and also the famous tale of the Nisan Shashy

man the conservation message is latent in the wellshy

known Nowak and Durranr version (Margaret Noshy

wak and Stephen Durrant The Tale ofthe Nisan Shashy

maness A Manchu Folk Epic [Seattle University of

Washingron Press 1977]) bur explicit in a version

recorded by Caroline Humphrey (Shamans p 306)

Still further is the complete prohibition on killing

animals at least in sacred localities that charactershy

izes Buddhism Such prohibition came ro China and

added itself to mountain cults as in Tibet (Toni

Huber The Cult ofPure Crystal Mountain Oxford

Oxford University Press 1999)

35 E N Anderson Flowering Apricot Envishy

ronment Practice Folk Religion and Taoism in

Daoism and Ecology eds N] Girardot James

Miller and Liu Xiaogan (Cambridge Harvard Unishy

versity Press for Center for the study of World Reshy

ligions 2001) pp 157-84

288

AND RAPHALS

36 Laozi dao de jing ~+lli fii1 ffpound (Zhuzi jicheng

edition) trans Robert Henricks Lao-Tzu Te-Tao

Ching a New Translation Based on the Recently Disshy

covered Ma-wang-tui Texts (New York Ballantine

Books 1989)

37 The Mawangdui medical corpus consists of

eleven medical manuscripts written on three sheets

of silk recovered from Mawangdui Tomb 3 in 1973

a burial dating from 168 BeE The individual manushy

scripts are untitled but have been assigned tides

by Chinese scholars on the basis of their contents

For discussion of the Mawangdui medical manushy

scripts see Donald Harper Early Chinese Medical

Literature (New York Columbia University Press

1999) pp 22-30 for more general relevant discusshy

sions Paul Unschuld Medicine in China A Hisshy

tory ofPharmaceutics Comparative Studies ofHealth

Systems and Medical Care (Berkeley University of

California Press 1986) Douglas Wile The Art of

the Bedchamber The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Inshy

cluding Womens Solo Meditation Techniques (Albany

SUNY Press 1992)

38 Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature pp

221-22 Gu Ii poisoning an affiiction of demonic

origins was sometimes attributed to the pernicious

activities of women who were believed to cultivate

gu and pass it down for generations

39 Mawangdui hanmu boshu zhengli xiaozu~J iijyenlfllH~Jsect [The Official Editorial Board

of the Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] Mawangshy

dui hanmu boshu (BS) ~Jiijyen ~ i [The Hanshy

Dynasty Silk Manuscripts of Mawangdui] (Beishy

jing Wenwu chubanshe 1980 1983) vols 1-4

40 Mawangdui Hanmu boshu 4155 165 cf

Wile Art ofthe Bedchamber pp 78- 81 The differshy

ences in terminology between the two sections are

minor (This version is the He Yin Yang) For discusshy

sion see Vivienne Lo Crossing the Inner Pass An

InnerOuter Distinction in Early Chinese Medishy

cine East Asian Science Technology andMedicine 17

(2000) 15-65

41 Maishu shiwen ~lIH1n X [Channel book]

Yinshu shiwen iJ Ii~x [Pulling book] Reported in

Zhangjiashan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu Jiangshy

ling Zhangjiashan Hanjian gaishu tI M 5amp wij FJl

~iZG Wenwu 1 (1985)

jiashan Hanjian zheng

yinshu shiwen UJ (1990) 82-86 analysi

jiashan Hanjian yinsh

~ Wenwu 10 (1990)

42 In a simitar S1

Shi could imitate the

his flute He marrie(

her transformed into

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang

fIJ [Collected Life Stor

[Treasury of Daoist

cyclopedic collection]

43 This literature

overlapped with the [

above specifically in

a useful survey see R

Writing Anomaly Acc

(Albany SUNY Pres

52 58-59 and 79 RI

from Gan Bao T (55]) [Records ofan J

Congshu jicheng v 2(

(Tao Yuanming ldiC houji )llt$f~Bc [FUrl

the Spirit Realm] CO

shan Hanmu zhujian

M1H~+L ed 1985 44 Campany StT

45middot SSJ637

46 SSJ638

47middot SSJ6394deg

48 SSJ 6 39-40

49 SSJ638

50 SSJ 6 39middot

51 SSJ640

52 SSJ 6 43

53 SSJ 6 48

54 SSJ 6 46 and

55 SSJ 6 45middot

56 SSJ639middot

57middot SSJ 643middot

58 SSJ 6 41 and

59 SSJ 1281 cf

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 15: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

289 DAOISM AND ANIMALS

ill (Zhuzi jicheng

Lao- Tzu Te- Tao

the Recently Disshyork Ballantine

Irpus consists of

I on three sheets

Tomb 3 in 1973

ldividual manushy

I assigned tides

their coments

medical manushy

hinese Medical

Tniversity Press

relevant discusshy

China A Hisshy

tudies ofHealth University of

ile The Art of

Yoga Classics Inshy

liques (Albany

Literature pp

on of demonic

the pernicious

ed to cultivate

gli xiaozu ~3 ~ditorial Board

iui] lvfawangshy

r~ [The Hanshy

mgdui) (Beishy

vols 1-4

P55 165 c[

81 The differshy

0 sectIons are

g) For discusshy

nner Pass An

hinese Medishy

tlMedicine I7

lanne book]

I Reported in

Jdaozu ]iangshy

~~IJl~M

Wenwu I (I985) 9-I6 Transcribed in Zhangshy

jiashan Hanjian zhengli Zit Zhangjiashan Hanjian

yinshu shiwen ~ UJ i~ M 1~~ x Wenwu IO

(1990) 82-86 analysis by Peng Hao fi~ iti Zhangshy

jitlshan Banjian yinshu chutan ~ UJ i~ jj 151 ~m ~ Vtgtnwu IO (1990) 87-91

42 In a similar story abut the phoenix Xiao

Shi could imitate the sound of the phoenix with

his flute He married a princess and later with

her transformed into twin phoenixes and flew away

(LXZ 35) Liu Xiang (attrib) Liexian zhuan 91Jfill 11ll fGollected Life Stories ofImmortals] in Dao zang [Treasury of Daoist Writings -the complete enshy

cyclopedic collection] 138 43 This literature is not specifically Daoist but

overlapped with the Daoist hagiographies described

above specifically in its treatment of animals For

a useful survey see Robert Ford Campany Strange

Writing Anomaly Accounts in Early Medieval China

(Albany SUNY 1996) pp 52-79 especially

S2 and 79 References to what follows are

from Gan Baa Tllf (335-349) 50ushen ji ~tiJIBc (55]) [Records ofan Inquest in to the Spirit Realm]

Congshu jichengv 2692-4 See also Tao Qian 1llilJiif (Tao Yuanming IllilJ DJl 365-427 attrib) 50ushen

houji ~ fIJI [Further Records ofan Inquest in to

the Spirit Realm] Congshu jicheng v 2695 Zhangjiashy

shan Hanmu zhujian zhengli xiaozu iJamp UJ ~~ t1 fl1jIEl]lj~fi ed 1985-90

44- Campany 5trange Writing pp 247-53

45middot

46 5SJ 47middot 55] 6 39 40 43 and 44middot

48 5SJ and 43

49 55] 6 38

50 55] 6 39

51 55]6 40

52 55] 643

53middot 55] 648

54middot 55] 6 46 and 47

55middot 55] 645middot

56 5SJ639middot

57middot 55] 6 43middot 5855] 641 and 46

59middot 55] 1281 cf Kenneth J DeWoskin and J 1

Crump Jr (cd and trans) In Search ofthe Supershy

natural The Written Record (Stanford Stanford Unishy

versity Press 1996) pp 142-44

60 Somewhat misleadingly described by Deshy

woskin and Crump as virility and mothering

spirit For more on cock and hen see Raphals

Sharing the Light ch 6 61 55] juan 12 p 81

62 55] juan 12 p 81

63middot 55] 1493 64middot 55] 1494

65middot 55] 1494-95

66 55] 18 I2I

67middot 55] 20I33

68 55] 2OIJ3

69middot 55] 2OI33-34

70 55] 20I34 and I36

71 55] 20135middot

72 55] 20134-35

n 55] 20135-36

74 55] 20136 For further discussion see Camshy

pany Strange Writings pp 384-93 75 The Baopuzi neipian [Esoteric Chapters ofthe

Book ofthe Preservation-of50lidiry Jaster] Ge Hong

describes the preparation of alchemical elixirs the

Daoist scholar Tao Hongjing also authored the 5hen

Nong bencao [Collected Commentaries on 5hen Nongs

Classic ofMateria Medica] the Taiqing danjing yaoshy

jue [Taiqing Elixir Classic Oral Digest] ofSun Simiao

contains elixir recipes

76 For example one recipe for lizard bites inshy

cludes the instruction to Seal it with oneyang sheaf

of jin Then incinerate deer antler Drink it with

urine Harper Early Chinese Medical Literature

pmiddot54middot 77 In fact taboos and restrictions so characshy

teristic of many religions were and are sparse in

Daoism Unlike Judaism and Islam it provides no

list of taboo animals and animal uses (though some

Daoist sects do have taboos) Unlike Hinduism and

Buddhism it does not enjoin nonviolence (though

again some Daoist sects do having probably picked

up the idea from Buddhism) Unlike many religions

(including early Judaism most animistic tradishy

tions and even Confucianism) it did not origishy

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)

Page 16: Daoism and Animals - Evergreen State College...of dragons and other imaginary creatures, but relatively few portrayals of real-world animals. Actual animals depicted include water

290

ANDERSON AND RAPHALS

nally provide specific directions for animal consershy

vation Still less were animals worshiped as gods (as

in Egypt) or as persons who were human in mythic

time and still have human and divine attributes (as

in most of Native America) Joseph Needham saw

Daoism as the key ideology underlying early scishy

ence in China but only in medicine does Daoism

take a scientific attitude toward animals and here

animals are considered only as sources for drugs

The animal management conspicuous in early Conshy

fucian and syncretist texts (Anderson Flowering

Apricot) based on empirical observation finds no

echo in Daoism (except in obvious borrowings)