During the time of the writing of the Zhuangzi 莊子, there is much evidence that there was a vibrant culture of 養生 yangsheng or Nourishing Life. Yangsheng can be roughly defined as a system of macrobiotic practices designed to increase one’s life span, including breath work 服氣, fasting 辟穀 “guiding and pulling” daoyin physical exercise 導引, sexual practices 入房 and general lifestyle taboos 禁忌. The goals of such practices were longevity, sometimes extending to the point of immortality and in other contexts within a regular human lifespan. These practices and the theories underlying them stretch back to at least around 400BC. In the Zhuangzi itself there is not only an entire chapter titled The Secret of Nourishing Life (1) 養生主 (SNL), but there are references to the culture of yangsheng scattered throughout the text. However, the Zhuangzi’s conception of yangsheng differs radically from many contemporaneous and subsequent yangsheng practitioners. That being said, much of this subsequent literature such as the Records of Cultivating Nature and Extending Life 養性延命綠 (YXYML) and the The Explanation of the Secret Breathing Method of Zhuang Zhou 莊周氣訣解 (ZZQJJ) still pays homage to the Zhuangzi by referencing and quoting from it despite the focus of these texts being fundamentally at odds with each other. Thus, although Zhuangzi conceptually broke away from the existing yangsheng culture at the time, he is later co-opted by the conceptual continuation of very same tradition that he is so critical of.
The attitude to yangsheng culture found in the Zhuangzi must have been fairly contentious at the time of writing, and makes some bold assertions as to what truly constitutes Nourishing Life. Unlike other roughly contemporaneous yangsheng literature such as the Guanzi Inward Training 管子內業 and the Mawangdui 馬王堆 medical manuscripts, the Zhuangzi, and indeed many of its commentaries, give absolutely no instruction on practical exercises that would help one achieve a long life, rather dealing in obtuse philosophy and parable. An examination of the text reveals a number of incongruities which can make it difficult to ascertain exactly what the perspective of yangsheng it espouses is. Indeed, one could argue that this subversion of our deeply held, preconceived beliefs is a fundamental theme of the entire text. As a result, there is no consensus amongst contemporary scholarship regarding his actual view of such practices (2).
The yangsheng literature subsequent to the Zhuangzi frequently quotes passages from the Zhuangzi; however, these passages are usually completely divorced from their original context and as such often lose the intended meaning of the original text. Furthermore, these texts often give primacy to the very techniques the Zhuangzi itself is at pains to delineate as auxiliary methods at best.
The YXYML is a Tang dynasty yangsheng text attributed to Tao Hongjing 陶弘景 (456-536 CE) and comprised of six chapters. It is concerned primarily with different facets of care for the body including lifestyle taboos, prayer, breathing techniques daoyin exercise and massage, and sexual practice. Zhuangzi is quoted from three times in the entire text (3):
A. The opening stanza to the SNL admonishing the blind pursuit of knowledge, earning “your life has a limit, but knowledge has none. If you use what is limited to pursue what has no limit, you will be in danger. If you understand this and still strive for knowledge, you will be in danger for certain!”(4)
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