Alchemy, Medicine, Religion in the China of a.d. 320: The Nei P'ien of Ko Hung (Pao-p'u tzu)

«I was his third son and, being born late, was spoiled by my parents. I was not trained at an early age in the study of history.» — Ko Hung cuenta su formación por su falta: tercer hijo, nacido tarde y consentido, sin instrucción temprana en historia.

«Having frequently been caught in the midst of warfare, my father’s library had become dispersed, leaving me no means for study during the moments of leisure from farming and obliging me to travel on foot, a little bundle of books on my back, and to borrow material.» — Ko Hung explica de dónde le viene el hábito de rastrear libros: la biblioteca de su padre se dispersó en la guerra y tuvo que viajar a pie con un atadito de libros a la espalda, pidiéndolos prestados.

«Whenever I happened upon any household that owned some com¬ plete texts, it cost me still more labor and time, for I had to cut and sell firewood to provide myself with the paper and brushes for making copies of them; it was in official barracks and paddocks that I did my copying by firelight.» — Ko Hung describe el precio material de copiar un texto completo: cortar y vender leña para pagar el papel y los pinceles, y copiar a la luz del fuego en barracas y establos oficiales.

«Since paper was generally scarce, I used both sides to make my copies, and they were hardly legible.» — Ko Hung consigna la escasez de papel: copiaba por las dos caras y las copias quedaban apenas legibles.

«At the age of sixteen I began the study of Filial Piety, The Analects, The Poems, and The Changes, but in my poverty I lacked the means for searching afar for teachers and friends.» — Ko Hung fecha en los dieciséis años el comienzo de su estudio de los clásicos confucianos y dice que su pobreza le impidió buscar maestros lejos.

«Having never fully embraced Confucianism, I have never become a teacher in that tradition. After one look at their Ho t’u, Lo shu, and books of divination, I stopped and could pay them no further attention (7.504).» — Ko Hung declara su distancia de la escuela en que se formó: nunca abrazó del todo el confucianismo ni enseñó en esa tradición, y dejó de mirar el Ho t'u, el Lo shu y los libros de adivinación tras un vistazo.

«Later I did study and got a rough acquaint¬ ance with the arts of divination by wind and weather, good and bad days, and the periodicity of the primary agents. I never went into them thoroughly, however, for I considered that all such activities were specific useful arts, practiced only by those thus personally in¬ clined, and that there being no urgency requiring that we belabor ourselves with them, it was better to concentrate on the profitable things that the philosophers have to say. So I have neglected divination.» — Ko Hung fija el límite de su interés por la adivinación: se asomó a la de vientos y tiempo, días fastos y nefastos y periodicidad de los agentes primarios, pero las tuvo por artes útiles específicas de quienes se inclinan a ellas y prefirió los filósofos.

«Altogether, Ch'i liieh pieh lu and Chapter 30 of Han shu list 13,299 scrolls of books, and since the advent of the Wei dynasty [a.d. 220—] writing has mounted in floods twice as great as before. I am conscious, therefore, of how much I have never seen.» — Ko Hung mide lo que no ha leído: los catálogos suman 13 299 rollos y desde la dinastía Wei la escritura ha crecido al doble.

«Everywhere south of the Yangtze there was a universal shortage of written material; I there¬ fore wished to go to teachers at the capital (jbi 1) in search of rarities, but I encountered a serious rebellion and retraced my steps when al¬ ready halfway there. This makes me constantly sigh with regret.» — Ko Hung cuenta el viaje frustrado que explica su biblioteca: al sur del Yangtsé faltaba material escrito, quiso ir a los maestros de la capital en busca de rarezas y una rebelión lo hizo volverse a medio camino.

«Today I am approaching forty, and my will for such searching has declined. I think only of “ diminishing further what has already been diminished and carrying on in the action that is perfect freedom” (T 48); doing my part in tilling the paddies and fruitlessly continuing my existence.» — Ko Hung se fecha cerca de los cuarenta y declara decaída la voluntad de buscar; lo que le queda es disminuir lo ya disminuido y seguir en la acción que es libertad perfecta, con la referencia al Tao te ching 48 puesta por el impreso.

«That is the reason my neighbors call me Simplex (Pao-p'u), which name I have used as a sobriquet in my writings.» — Ko Hung da el origen del nombre bajo el que corre el tratado: Simplex, Pao-p'u, es el apodo que le pusieron los vecinos y que él adoptó como sobrenombre en sus escritos.

«It has been my plan to preserve regularity and not to follow the whims of the world. My speech is frank and sincere; I engage in no banter. If I do not come upon the right person, I can spend the day in silence.» — Ko Hung se retrata por la conducta: conservar la regularidad contra los caprichos del mundo, hablar franco y sin burla, y callar el día entero si no da con la persona adecuada.

«Idle argumentation is conducive to injuries to our inner gods; it is not beneficial; it causes loss.» — Ko Hung da una razón fisiológica a su retraimiento: la argumentación ociosa daña a los dioses interiores, no beneficia y causa pérdida.

«I confess to being the most miserable of Confucianists. Whenever I talk with another I always turn the conversation to things he knows; I do not force him into subjects he does not know.» — Ko Hung se declara el más miserable de los confucianistas y describe su modo de conversar: llevar la plática a lo que el otro sabe y no forzarlo a lo que ignora.

«If they object to my terseness and find it difficult to understand what I have in mind, it is deliberately that I merely express the approximate direction and the associations of my thought, just enough to arouse their minds.» — Ko Hung explica su concisión como método de enseñanza: da a propósito solo la dirección aproximada y las asociaciones de su pensamiento, lo justo para despertar la mente del alumno.

«Whenever I have a ten days’ supply of food, I share it with those who have nothing, but when there is not enough for myself, I do not deprive myself.» — Ko Hung fija su regla de reparto: comparte cuando tiene provisión para diez días y no se priva cuando no le alcanza.

«Fan Jan’s refusal of support from the rest of his family and Hua Hsin’s being so meticu¬ lously puritan toward the befriended guest who was overloading the boat were probably sham acts in search of glory, not great deeds to be long remembered at the ancestral temple.» — Ko Hung juzga dos ejemplos célebres de escrúpulo como actos fingidos en busca de gloria, no como grandes hechos dignos de memoria en el templo ancestral.

«Taking no pleasure in the astrological and numerological, I devoted no time at all to» — Ko Hung declara qué dejó fuera de su estudio: sin gusto por lo astrológico ni lo numerológico, no dedicó tiempo alguno a lo que la plana siguiente enumera.

«Sky's Nine Divisions, Three Marvels, Grand Unity, or “Express” Amulets, because such things can give a person much trouble and con¬ tain little that is attractive.» — continúa en la plana siguiente la lista de lo que Ko Hung desechó: las Nueve Divisiones del Cielo, las Tres Maravillas, la Unidad Magna y los amuletos Express, porque dan mucho trabajo y contienen poco atractivo.

«The human being is so hard to know that even fathers and older brothers are not sure of understanding their own sons and younger brothers thoroughly. Those resembling ourselves receive immediate approval; those differing, immediate disapproval.» — Ko Hung enuncia por qué se niega a juzgar personas: el ser humano es tan difícil de conocer que ni padres ni hermanos mayores están seguros de entender a los suyos, y se aprueba de inmediato a quien se nos parece y se desaprueba a quien difiere.

«(Writing around a.d. 335:) Long ago, in the T’ai-an period (a.d. 303-4), Shih Ping led a revolt resulting in serious disturbances throughout six states; lawful government was interfered with and hostile cliques were formed against the state. The Commander-in-Chief of the Loyalists (Ku Pi) ordered me to take a command, and I felt subjected to many pressures. Since my own native region feared the rebels, who were causing much damage and wide concern, and the Ancients considered action proper in emergencies, and, finally, being personally awed by martial law, I dared not yield to my own» — abre la segunda mitad de la autobiografía, fechada por el impreso hacia el 335 d. C., unos veinte años después de la primera: la revuelta de Shih Ping, el mando que le ordenan tomar y la ley marcial que lo obliga.

«I warned that I would behead any soldier who joined the looters, and from that point on nobody dared counter my authority.» — Ko Hung cuenta cómo mantuvo la disciplina de su compañía mientras los demás mandos soltaban a sus soldados al saqueo: amenazó con decapitar a quien se sumara.

«The commandant then gave me the title of Wave-Subduing General and awarded all those of my rank one hundred pieces of cloth. Most of the commanders packed theirs or sent them home, but I shared mine with my officers and men and gave some to the poorer of my friends. The remaining ten pieces I exchanged for meat and wine with which to feast my officers, thus winning for myself a day of glory.» — Ko Hung consigna la recompensa y el uso que le dio: el título de General Sometedor de Olas y cien piezas de tela, que repartió entre sus oficiales y los amigos más pobres, cambiando las diez últimas por carne y vino.

«When peace returned, I threw down my spear, removed my lorica, and immediately started for Lo-yang (see 3/12) to search extensively for writings that are out of the ordinary but certainly not to discuss my military merit» — Ko Hung nombra el motivo por el que fue a Lo-yang apenas terminada la campaña: buscar escritos fuera de lo común, no discutir su mérito militar.

«Riches and honors can be gradually attained if one thinks long enough about them, but it is impossible to garner them quickly. Meanwhile, little things here and there often wear out a man; power and glory are like overnight guests. Since they are nothing perma¬ nent, their departure cannot be put off indefinitely. All flourishings come to an end, and moments of glory die. They are like the flowers of spring that suddenly succumb to frost. Let there then be no joy at their attainment, no grief at their loss! Since it is impossible to enu¬ merate all the regrets they occasion and all the worry and fear they inspire, they are not worth our efforts.» — Ko Hung resume su cálculo sobre la fortuna: riquezas y honores son huéspedes de una noche, flores de primavera heladas de golpe, y no merecen esfuerzo ni alegría ni duelo.

«I am going to retire into the famous mountains to regulate my diet and nurture my life, so that there can be no abandonment of the plan on my part. When a man’s activities are not mutually helpful, how is he to cultivate God (the Dark and Tranquil) without quitting the world’s normal activities ?» — Ko Hung anuncia el retiro a las montañas famosas para regular la dieta y nutrir la vida, y lo justifica con una pregunta: cómo cultivar a Dios sin dejar las actividades normales del mundo.

«If you call to me that there are no roads in the mountains and forests, I must remind you that the ancient practitioners of the divine process were also obliged to enter the mountains and forests because they truly wished to avoid noise and keep their hearts and minds at peace.» — Ko Hung contesta la objeción de que no hay caminos en montes y bosques con el precedente: los antiguos practicantes del proceso divino también tuvieron que entrar ahí para evitar el ruido y guardar en paz corazón y mente.

«I shall quit my native district for Mount Sung in search of the path trod by Wang Yuan and Liang Mu.» — Ko Hung nombra el destino y el linaje de su retiro: el monte Sung, tras la senda que pisaron Wang Yuan y Liang Mu.

«thus it was only after having acquired much wider experience and having come to feel the difference between beauty and ugliness that I rejected practically all of my enormous literary output, and retained less than one percent.» — Ko Hung mide la poda de su propia obra: al ganar experiencia rechazó casi toda su enorme producción literaria y retuvo menos del uno por ciento.

«In all, I have composed Nei p’ien in 20 scrolls, Wai p'ien in 50; inscriptions, lauds, regular and free poetry in 100; Chun shu yao i and Chang piao chien chi in 30.» — Ko Hung inventaría su obra: veinte rollos de Nei p'ien, cincuenta de Wai p'ien, cien de inscripciones, loas y poesía, y treinta más de otros dos títulos.

«I also compiled a book on those who are not normally listed, which became the Shen hsien chuan in 10 scrolls; I did the same for those who out of idealism do not enter public office, which became the Yin i chuan, also in 10 scrolls.» — Ko Hung nombra dos compilaciones biográficas suyas: el Shen hsien chuan sobre los que no suelen figurar en las listas, y el Yin i chuan sobre los que por idealismo no entran en el servicio público.

«I am indeed mindful that this sort of lowly art disturbs thought and wastes days and months. For those in authority it de¬ tracts from the conduct of public affairs. It causes Confucianists to abandon their studies, ordinary people to forget their crops, and merchants to neglect their businesses.» — Ko Hung condena el juego de mesa por lo que cuesta: perturba el pensamiento y desperdicia los días, hace que los confucianistas abandonen sus estudios, la gente común olvide sus cosechas y los mercaderes descuiden sus negocios.

«Since all these games put together are not worth the reading of one foot of writing, I find no pleasure whatever in them and do not play them. One might say that they are the things with which the lower classes are on familiar terms.» — Ko Hung cierra la cuestión del juego con una medida: todos esos juegos juntos no valen lo que la lectura de un pie de escritura.

«I also had instruction in sword plus shield and in single sword plus double lance, all of which have abstruse instructions and significant tricks for use against adversaries. After acquiring these secret methods and becoming adept at them, it becomes possible to remain unscathed and win a victory all alone provided this procedure is used against an uninitiated person.» — Ko Hung declara haber recibido instrucción de armas con instrucciones abstrusas y trucos significativos, y acota que el método secreto solo garantiza la victoria frente a un no iniciado.

«Already as a young man it had been my fixed purpose not to seek prominence for myself. Whenever I read the accounts of Hsu Yu, Tzu-chou Chih-fu, Pei-jen Wu-tse, and Shih-hu-chih-nung (all four in Chuang), the two Chiangs, the pair ofYuans, Fa-chen, and Shen-t’u P’an (all in HHS), I always forgot the book and advanced off my mat as I cherished the memory of the type of man they had been, and my thoughts turned to mastering the Five Classics in order to be able to compose a philosophical work of my own, so that later generations might know that I was a literary Confucianist and nothing more.» — Ko Hung dice cuál era su propósito de juventud: no buscar prominencia, dominar los Cinco Clásicos y componer una obra filosófica propia para que se le tuviera por un confucianista de letras y nada más.

«By the decree of a.d. 330 I was granted the fief title of Marquis of Kuan-chung with 200 households of Chii-jung for my income.» — Ko Hung fecha en 330 el decreto que le otorgó el título de marqués de Kuan-chung con la renta de doscientas casas de Chü-jung.

«My Nei p'ien, telling of gods and genii, pre¬ scriptions and medicines, ghosts and marvels, transformations, main¬ tenance of life, extension of years, exorcising evils, and banishing misfortune, belongs to the Taoist school. My Wai p'ien, giving an account of success and failure in human affairs and of good and evil in public affairs, belongs to the Confucian school (16.1 bi).» — Ko Hung adscribe él mismo sus dos mitades a dos escuelas: el Nei p'ien, de dioses y genios, recetas y medicinas, fantasmas y maravillas, transformaciones, mantenimiento de la vida y conjuro de males, a la escuela taoísta, y el Wai p'ien, de éxito y fracaso en los asuntos humanos, a la confuciana.

«When I had completed [the first half of] this autobiography, some¬ one raised this objection: “Of old, in his sixties when his course had been run and his hopes were at an end, Wang Ch’ung, fearing that both his body and his name would disappear together, wrote an autobiography as a conclusion to his work (Lun heng 30).» — voz del objetante anónimo que la autobiografía incorpora: le recuerda que Wang Ch'ung escribió la suya a los sesenta, con el camino recorrido y las esperanzas agotadas, por temor a que su cuerpo y su nombre desaparecieran juntos.

«Since i have no extraordinary talent but do happen to like the pursuit of action that constitutes perfect freedom, by de¬ ploying my wings I might well traverse the dark heavens, and by speeding my feet move over the landscape with the speed of wind. It has been my desire, however, to continue to stack my sinews and wings with low-flying flocks and store my poor doings with lame donkeys, especially since God (the Mass of Greatness) has provided me with ordinary short wings and creation has conferred upon me» — abre el prefacio de Ko Hung al Nei p'ien, con la minúscula del impreso en el pronombre: se niega talento extraordinario y declara su gusto por la acción que constituye la libertad perfecta.

«Those able to judge themselves are careful; where in¬ competent, they desist. One with only the strength of a greenhead does not expect to rise to high heaven; and he who rides a crippled tortoise does not follow in the tracks of the thoroughbred.» — Ko Hung enuncia la regla de medida que rige su prefacio: quien sabe juzgarse es cuidadoso y desiste donde es incompetente.

«In Memoriam MARCEL GRANET Directeur d’Etudes a VEcole des Hautes Etudes Professeur a VEcole des Langues Orientates Administrateur de VInstitut des Hautes Etudes Chinoises de Paris and TENNEY L. DAVIS Professor of Organic Chemistry Massachusetts Institute of Technology» — Ware dedica el volumen a dos muertos que marcan sus dos linajes de lectura: el sinólogo Marcel Granet, de la Escuela de Altos Estudios de París, y Tenney L. Davis, profesor de química orgánica en el MIT.

«In references to China’s Dynastic Histories, I have used the T’u-shu-chi-ch’eng yin-shu-chii edition.» — Ware declara en el prefacio qué ediciones chinas usa para las Historias Dinásticas.

«The publications of the late Professor H. Maspero (Journal Asiatique, Vol. 229 [1937] and Le Taoisme, Paris, 1950) and TT 900 (Synonyms for Minerals and Medicines) were indispensable, and the notes of Y. Ishijima (Tokyo, 1942) and Father E. Feifel (Monumenta Serica Vol. 6 [1941] et seq.) have been helpful.» — Ware nombra su deuda con la sinología previa: Maspero y el TT 900 de sinónimos de minerales y medicinas como indispensables, y las notas de Ishijima y del padre Feifel como útiles.

«The late Professor T. L. Davis also worked with this text (Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Vol. 70 [1935] et seq.) out of his interest in the history of alchemy.» — Ware consigna que Davis, el químico a quien dedica el libro, había trabajado ya sobre este mismo texto, y por interés en la historia de la alquimia.

«minerals and plants can only be, for the present translator, the definitions found in available dictionaries and vocab» — Ware acota el límite de su propia traducción: los nombres de minerales y plantas solo pueden ser, para él, las definiciones de los diccionarios disponibles. La frase arranca en la plana anterior, donde el troceo intercala la nota al pie y el folio.

«In Chinese personal names the surname or family name is given first; thus Ko Hung is Mr. Ko, and Shen-t’u P’an is Mr. Shen-t’u. The rest of the name corresponds to our first name.» — Ware explica el orden de los nombres chinos: el apellido va primero, de modo que Ko Hung es el señor Ko.

«For actual publication of this translation, his first deep bow of gratitude must be to Professor Nathan Sivin.» — Ware agradece la publicación de la traducción, ante todo, a Nathan Sivin.

«A: Ko Hung’s autobiography = ch. 50 of his Wai p’ien.» — la tabla de abreviaturas identifica la autobiografía incorporada a la Introducción como el capítulo 50 del Wai p'ien, la otra mitad de la obra de Ko Hung.

«SHC: Shen hsien chuan, Ko Hung’s Biographies of Gods and Genii (Kuang Han Wei ts’ung-shu, 1592).» — la tabla de abreviaturas registra otra obra de Ko Hung, las Biografías de dioses y genios, citada por la edición de 1592.

«A Something, chaotic in formation, was begotten before nature. Quiet and uncommitted, It exists of Itself, never changing. Since It never tires of moving everywhere, we may well think of It as the world's mother. Its rightful name I do not know, but I give It the sobriquet Tao ( = God). If a rightful name is insisted upon, I would call It Maximal.» — voz del Tao te ching, verso 25, en la versión de Duyvendak que Ware reproduce en su Introducción: algo caótico engendrado antes que la naturaleza, quieto y sin compromiso, que existe de sí mismo y no cambia, y a lo que se da el sobrenombre de Tao.

«Then, upon noticing that Tao Te Ching, verse 34, is willing to call the Something “Minimal,” every schoolman would have understood that the Chinese author was talking about God, for only in God do contraries become identical!» — Ware apoya en el verso 34 su equivalencia de Tao con Dios: quien llama Mínimo a lo que ya llamó Máximo habla, para un escolástico, de Dios, porque solo en Dios los contrarios se identifican.

«In two Chinese texts dating from around 300 b.c., Tao Te Ching and Chuang tzu, we meet the thought, and sporadic¬ ally the practices, of men who rejected the normal human and materialistic descriptions of God. Impressed by the evanescence of the material universe and yearning for perma¬ nency, they were impelled to postulate, through intuition, that the phantasmagoria was reducible to Unity.» — Ware fecha hacia el 300 a. C. los dos textos, Tao Te Ching y Chuang tzu, en que sitúa el rechazo de las descripciones humanas y materialistas de Dios y la postulación por intuición de que la fantasmagoría se reduce a Unidad.

«In all this he lays no claim to originality; he says in his book that he is merely transmitting things learned from his teacher who also did not originate them (4.202).» — Ware resume la posición que Ko Hung se da a sí mismo: no reclama originalidad y dice transmitir lo aprendido de su maestro, que tampoco lo originó.

«Thanks to its redness and permanency gold is the one ideal available material that seems to embody Life or God. Since man becomes what he eats, man would become Life by feeding upon gold.» — Ware expone el silogismo que ordena el tratado: el oro, por rojo y permanente, es la materia disponible que parece encarnar la Vida o Dios, y como el hombre se vuelve lo que come, comiendo oro se volvería Vida.

«Ko has no interest in gold as a medium of exchange (16.469), but only as a medicine or food that will endow him with a Fullness of Life comparable with God.» — Ware acota que a Ko Hung el oro no le interesa como moneda sino como medicina o alimento que dé Plenitud de Vida comparable a la de Dios.

«At any rate, he did produce mixtures and oxida¬ tions from cinnabar, realgar, malachite, sulphur, mica, salt, saltpeter, and orpiment.» — Ware enumera los reactivos que da por efectivamente trabajados: cinabrio, rejalgar, malaquita, azufre, mica, sal, salitre y oropimente.

«As preliminary and ancillary pro¬ cedures, our author recommends calisthenics, breathing exercises, a pharmacopoeia of herbs and minerals for the treatment of illnesses, and correct sexual procedures where an ultimate goal is the development of the sperm and its retention within the originator’s body to repair his brain.» — Ware ordena lo que rodea a la obra del elixir: calistenia, ejercicios de respiración, farmacopea de hierbas y minerales contra las enfermedades, y procedimientos sexuales cuyo fin último es retener el esperma para reparar el cerebro.

«It is clear that the word tao appears frequently in this text not as a designation of God but of the process by which God is to be approximated or attained. In such cases I shall trans¬ late it as “the divine process.” In instances where either this or “God” would be appropriate, a translator is obliged to be arbitrary.» — Ware distingue los dos usos de tao y avisa de la arbitrariedad que se impone: cuando no designa a Dios sino al proceso por el que se lo aproxima o alcanza, lo traduce the divine process, y donde caben los dos el traductor tiene que elegir.

«The term tao shih is rendered “processor”; hsien is translated “genie” rather than “immortal.”» — las otras dos decisiones de vocabulario que gobiernan el libro entero: tao shih queda en processor y hsien en genie, no en immortal.

«At this juncture, however, a great diffi¬ culty looms: Those in possession of sufficient gold are either atheists or — and faith is of the essence — they simply do» — Ware señala la dificultad que empuja el tratado hacia la fabricación: quien posee oro suficiente o es ateo o, y la fe es lo esencial, *simply do not believe in the doctrine*, como sigue la frase en la plana siguiente.

«The Taoism represented by Ko Hung peopled the uni¬ verse with gods, ghosts, and genii. What was merely “sky” in the old Chinese state cult had become by his day an or¬ ganization and a vast country, populated and governed like China itself.» — Ware describe el mundo que el libro supone: el taoísmo que Ko Hung representa puebla el universo de dioses, fantasmas y genios, y lo que en el viejo culto de Estado era solo cielo pasa a ser una organización y un país vasto, poblado y gobernado como la propia China.

«Further, the Chinese of the fourth century a.d. were accepting a detailed correlation between heaven, earth, and man, which was handled through equations using the sexagenary cycle (with its denary and duodenary cycles), the Five Agents (wood, fire, earth, water, metal), the seasons, the cardinal points, the colors, the musical notes, and the stars.» — Ware enumera la rejilla de correspondencias que el siglo IV chino daba por buena y que el tratado usa: ciclo sexagenario, cinco agentes, estaciones, puntos cardinales, colores, notas musicales y estrellas.

«The author of the present book, Ko Hung, can be assigned only the approximate dates of a.d. 280-340, since sources other than Chin shu (Chin History) 72.704, which records for him the ideal Taoist age of 81, give his age as 60.» — Ware fecha al autor sin resolver la discrepancia de las fuentes: solo caben las fechas aproximadas 280-340 d. C., porque el Chin shu le da la edad taoísta ideal de 81 años y las demás fuentes, 60.

«Breath (ch’i), that sure sign of vitality, was classified into ten sorts, three of them subtle (hun) and seven coarse (po) (2.10a6).» — Ware da la anatomía que el libro presupone: el aliento, señal cierta de vitalidad, se clasificaba en diez clases, tres sutiles y siete gruesas.

«Anatomically the body fell into the three divisions of top, bottom, and median (5.208), in each of which there were a governing bureau and branch offices operated by inhabiting divinities. Late sources claim that these numbered 36,000. It was the function of the physician to know which of these might be causing illness. A correct knowledge of their names and uniforms was indispensable if they were to be controlled.» — Ware describe la burocracia interna del cuerpo: tres divisiones con oficina rectora y sucursales atendidas por divinidades residentes, y el oficio del médico consiste en saber cuál causa la enfermedad y conocer sus nombres y uniformes para controlarlas.

«Ctieng 10.5: The patient dreamed that his illness was two lackeys, one of whom remarked, “The physician whom Ch’in is sending is first class. I’m afraid that he will harm us. Where shall we run to?” The other replied, “Let’s go and stay above the diaphragm and below the heart, then he will be unable to do anything about us.” After examining his patient the physician said, “Nothing can be done about this illness, because it lies above the diaphragm and below the heart where we cannot reach it. Medicines are ineffective when they do not reach the illness.» — voz del Tso chuan, clásico confuciano que Ware reproduce en su Introducción porque es el marco médico que Ko Hung evoca: la enfermedad soñada como dos lacayos que se esconden entre el diafragma y el corazón, adonde el medicamento no llega.

«There are six breaths in nature, and they produce all savors, colors, and musical chords. Excess causes the illnesses. The six breaths are: yin, yang, wind, rain, darkness, and light. They are apportioned among the four seasons and arranged into the five musical chords. Excess on the part of any of the six breaths causes damage. Too much ym, there will be chills; too much yang, fever; too much wind, illness in the extremities; too much rain, digestive troubles; too much dark¬ ness, delusion; too much light, illness for the heart and mind.» — voz del Tso chuan citado por Ware: los seis alientos de la naturaleza son yin, yang, viento, lluvia, oscuridad y luz, repartidos entre las cuatro estaciones y ordenados en los cinco acordes, y el exceso de cualquiera de ellos causa su daño propio.

«In the preceding excerpt two untranslatable terms were encountered: yin and yang. They are a succinct product of Chinese culture which the rest of the world might well adopt in classifying its own observation and experience con¬ veniently. Yin is dark and feminine; yang is light and mascu¬ line; thus these words denote the whole gamut of antagonistic, complementary pairs of which our universe is composed.» — Ware declara intraducibles los dos términos y los explica como clasificación: yin es oscuro y femenino, yang claro y masculino, y entre los dos abarcan la gama entera de pares antagónicos y complementarios.

«Since Taoism is by no means nihilistic in outlook, its cardinal dynamism can be stressed by using positives to translate some other technical terms which, literally, are overtly or implicitly negative because they deny the popular assumption that empiric existences constitute reality. Yu designates these empirical existences with their bound and discreet forms. Wu is the antithesis of yu, and to underscore its lack of bonds, “perfect freedom” is used for its translation. Hsu, to all essential purposes, is a synonym of wu, but to preserve the verbal distinction it will be trans¬ lated “uncommitted.” Ch'ing (pure) is best rendered “unprejudiced.”» — nota al pie de Ware con el resto de su vocabulario: contra la lectura nihilista traduce en positivo los términos que en chino niegan la realidad de lo empírico, de modo que wu queda en perfect freedom, hsu en uncommitted y ch'ing en unprejudiced.

«For Sui, Ch’in, and the fish, Ko Hung seems to have had in mind Chuang 28.29; 32.25; and 19.50. The reference to the nests remains unidentified.» — nota de Ware al capítulo primero: conjetura de qué pasajes del Chuang salen tres de las imágenes y declara sin identificar la de los nidos.

«The references here are to I ching. See R. Wilhelm, Buck der Wandlungen (Jena, 1924), Vol. 1, pp. 82, 147; Vol. 2, pp. 118, 208. These are all references to stories of mean or futile desires.» — nota de Ware que remite las imágenes de la viga alabeada y la sopa derramada al I ching por la traducción alemana de Richard Wilhelm, y las lee como historias de deseos mezquinos o fútiles.

«This could be a reference to Ana 18.5 and Lieh tzu 4.20.» — nota de Ware que propone, en condicional, las dos referencias clásicas del pasaje sobre los dichos de locos y las cantinelas de niños.

«This is a quotation from The Poems 35.1. Feng and fei are not identifiable. The point, as in the previous sentence, is that the seemingly useless is not to be ignored.» — nota de Ware que declara no identificables dos plantas del verso citado y explica el punto: lo que parece inútil no ha de ignorarse.

«This includes what is now North Vietnam, Kwangtung, and Kwangsi.» — nota de Ware que sitúa geográficamente los estados costeros del sur donde, según el texto, ya se fabricaban las copas de cristal.

«Translator’s note: Since in composing the above resume Ko Hung reports nothing about the actual preparation of any of the nine cinnabars, I translate here what TT 884.1.40-56 says about the first: Recipe.» — Ware interviene con nota de traductor para suplir lo que el texto omite: como Ko Hung no informa de la preparación efectiva de ninguno de los nueve cinabrios, él traduce del canon taoísta lo que este dice del primero.

«Place the cinnabar in a crucible (which is placed mouth-to-mouth with another crucible). Seal the joint hermetically with Six-One lute. Examine it carefully to see that there is no crack even as fine as a hair, for otherwise all the medicine will evaporate and its essence be lost. In such a case no benefit can be derived from taking the residue. When the sealing has been completed, dry it for some ten days before using the reaction vessel.» — en esa nota Ware traduce el sellado del vaso: dos crisoles boca con boca, junta hermética con el mortero Seis-Uno, y revisión de que no quede grieta ni de un cabello, porque si no la medicina se evapora y se pierde su esencia.

«First, warm the vessel for nine days and nights with a fire of dried horse manure kept five inches from it; then move the fire closer for another nine days and nine nights. After this, surround the bottom half of the vessel with fire for another nine days and nine nights. After thirty-six days in all, one may halt the firing and allow cooling for one day in order that all the medicine may sublime into the upper crucible. It will resemble either mottled serpentine, shooting stars, or frost. It will be pure red like cinnabar, blue, or scarlet. Remove only one pound minus four ounces of it by brushing with a feather.» — sigue la nota de Ware con el régimen de fuego: nueve días y nueve noches con fuego de estiércol seco de caballo a cinco pulgadas, otros nueve más cerca y otros nueve rodeando la mitad inferior, y al cabo de treinta y seis un día de enfriamiento para que la medicina sublime al crisol superior.

«When you are ready to take it, wash and bathe both body and hair, and burn incense for five or seven days, then at 6 o’clock in the morning bow eastward and, while kneeling, take a dose the size of a large grain of wheat or millet, or even of a gram. If a truly superior processor takes it thus for seven days, he will rise to heaven. If a lesser one takes it for seventy days, he will also attain geniehood, but an uninitiate would require a whole year for this same result.» — la nota de Ware da el rito y la escala de la toma: lavarse cuerpo y cabello, quemar incienso cinco o siete días y a las seis de la mañana inclinarse al este y tomar de rodillas una dosis del tamaño de un grano de trigo; siete días bastan al processor superior, setenta al menor y un año entero al no iniciado.

«Finally, she added, “ Gold is formed, to last you’re able. Gold not formed, your life’s unstable. Effort in vain, protection whence able?”» — cierra la nota de Ware con la cuarteta de la Hembra Celeste que hace del oro la prueba de la vida: formado el oro se puede durar, no formado la vida es inestable.

«The Chinese alchemists prepared solutions of a large number of minerals, usually by dissolving them in weak nitric acid made from niter and vinegar» — nota firmada por Nathan Sivin dentro del volumen, no por Ware: explica que los alquimistas chinos preparaban soluciones de minerales disolviéndolos en ácido nítrico débil hecho de nitro y vinagre.