Sun Simiao was a native of Huayuan who was a hermit in the Taibai Mountains and was a practitioner of the Way. He was good at celestial calendars and the art of regeneration and health. When Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty summoned him in the third year of Huanqing, Sun Simiao was already over ninety years old, but his eyesight and hearing had not diminished at all. The poet Lu Zhaolin and the famous scholar of the Time, Song Lingwen, treated Sun Simiao with the same courtesy as his teacher.
The human body is a microcosm of nature
They once asked Sun Simiao, “What is the rationale behind a famous doctor’s ability to cure a disease?”
Sun Simiao said, “I have heard that those who know the sky must be able to find its essence in the human body; those who are familiar with the human body must have the sky as their essence. So the sky has spring, summer, autumn and winter, night and day alternate, cold and heat exchange and change, this is nature in motion; the human body has limbs and five organs, awake, asleep, exhale and inhale, exhale the old and the new, meridians and qi and blood circulation. The flow is the circulation of qi and blood, which manifests itself as the human qi, which is the normal movement of the human body.”
“Yang uses its essence, Yin uses its form, this is the same for heaven and man, contrary to the normal law will be sick. If you steam, you will get hot, otherwise you will get cold, if you silt, you will become a tumor (flesh lump), if you block, you will become a carbuncle (poisonous sore). Based on the surface diagnosis, we can check the internal changes of the body. The analogy from the body to the natural world is the same. Errors in the orbits of the stars, eclipses of the sun and moon, the fall of comets, these are signs of danger in nature! A good doctor uses Medicine for infusion and acupuncture to cure and save people. The wise man governs the world with high morals and good use of virtuous people. So there are diseases that can be eliminated from the body and disasters that can be removed from the sky, all of which are qi.”
Be bold, be small-minded
Lu Zhaolin asked, “What should I do in the world?”
Sun Simiao replied, “Be bold, have a small heart, be wise and considerate, and behave squarely.”
Shining Neighbor asked, “How do you say that?”
Sun Simiao replied, “The heart is the head of the five viscera; it should follow the laws and therefore be cautious. Gall is the general of the five viscera, it must be resolute and decisive, so the gall should be large. A wise man acts like the sky, so he should be round, and a benevolent man is as quiet as the earth, so he should be square and not meticulous. The Chuan says: ‘Not to return because it is profitable to do so; not to repent because one has done benevolence and righteousness, this is the squareness and nonchalance of the man of benevolence and righteousness.’ The Book of Changes says, ‘When you see an opportunity, you must do it immediately, and not wait all day.
People have “five fears” and only then the mind is clear
Lu Zhaolin also asked, “What is the most important thing about nurturing one’s nature?”
Sun Simiao said, “The sky is full and there are losses, and there are many difficulties and hardships in the human world. There has never been a person who can be freed from danger without acting cautiously. Therefore, those who speak of nurturing their nature must first know how to be cautious themselves.
“The Psalmist says, ‘If a man does not fear calamity, the heavens will send calamity to you.’
“The most important thing to fear is the fear of the Tao, then the fear of heaven, followed by the fear of things, again the fear of people, and finally the fear of yourself.
“Therefore, if you lose your fear, you will easily lose your mind, become disorganized, become agitated, and have trouble holding yourself together.
“If you understand these truths, you cannot be harmed by a dragon when you sail in the water; you cannot be hurt by a fierce animal when you walk on the road; you cannot be infected by any kind of disease or plague; you cannot be slandered by those who love to speak ill of others. If you understand this truth, you will understand all the things in the world.”
Soon after, Sun Simiao was awarded the title of Chengmu Lang, who was in charge of the affairs of the Medicine Bureau. Sun Simiao died in the early year of Yongchun of Emperor Gaozong of the Tang Dynasty, and he left a will: to be buried thinly, not to burn those paper-tied netherworld artifacts, and not to slaughter animals during sacrifices. More than a month after his death, his color was still the same as when he was alive. When his body was carried into the coffin, it gave the impression that he was carrying empty clothes. During his lifetime, Sun Simiao wrote thirty volumes of “Thousand Gold Formula”, which were passed on to future generations.
Recent Comments