This page is cultural and historical background. It is not medical advice; for health concerns, see a licensed professional.
Life
Ge Hong, styled Zhichuan and later called Baopuzi ('Master Who Embraces Simplicity'), came from Jurong in present-day Jiangsu. He studied medicine and the arts of longevity under Zheng Yin, served briefly as an official, and spent years in the south gathering recipes and oral teachings. His Baopuzi divides into an 'Inner' section on gods, elixirs and longevity, and an 'Outer' section on Confucian ethics and government. He records both laboratory (waidan) methods that use mineral elixirs and ideas that later fed inner alchemy; modern readers treat the mercury–lead recipes as historical material only. He also wrote on medicine (Zhouhou beiji fang) and died on Mount Luofu in Guangdong.
The system
- Immortality arts as a teachable system of texts, teachers and practice.
- Waidan (outer alchemy): historical laboratory recipes; read as intellectual history, not medicine.
- Baopuzi's double structure: Daoist Inner Chapters and Confucian Outer Chapters.
Key works
- Baopuzi (Inner and Outer Chapters)
- Zhouhou beiji fang (Emergency Formulas to Keep at Hand)
Where to start
- Read the Baopuzi as history of ideas; skip any recipe that uses toxic minerals.
- James R. Ware, trans., Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in the China of A.D. 320 (Baopuzi neipian).
Ask Orin
A question to start with. It opens in Orin ready to edit; nothing is sent until you press Send.
How does Ge Hong's Baopuzi distinguish outer alchemy from later inner alchemy?Ask Orin this question