No. 48.—The Patriarch of P‘êng’s Method of brightening the Vision

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Sacred Texts Taoism

Kung-Fu, or Tauist Medical Gymnastics, by John Dudgeon, [1895], at sacred-texts.com

No. 48.—The Patriarch of P‘êng's (#) ^* Method of brightening the Vision.

p. 203

Sit on the ground firmly, reverse the two hands and place them behind, extend the left leg, flex the right knee and press it upon the left leg equal to a period of 5 respirations, and induce the lungs to drive out the wind. If this attitude be assumed for a long time, things at night will be seen as clear as day.

Another method is at cock-crow to rub the two hands warm, and iron (as it were) the eyes; rub thrice and iron the eyes as often; then take the finger and rub the eyes, and right and left will become divinely brilliant.

The Ti-hwang Pills (same as Shêng-ti; sea No. 8) for clearing the Eyes.

Prescription.—Take of shêng-ti (washed in wine), shu-ti (the same), of each 4 ounces; chih-mu (roasted in salted water), hwang-p‘o (roasted in wine), of each a ounces; cakes of Cuscuda (Dodder) seeds, t‘u-szu-tzu (#) prepared in wine, tu-hwo, of each 1 ounce; kan-kow-chi, chw‘an-niu-hsi (washed in wine), of each 3 ounces; sha-yuen-chi-li (#), seeds of an unknown plant, 3 ounces. Powder, and with honey make pills the size of the wu-t‘ung-tse (seeds of sterculia platanifolia). Dose, 80 pills. In summer, use weakly-salted water as a menstruum. After more than a month, use wine in taking it.

These exercises conclude with a description of three Figures. The first is a pipe or reed (see Figure below), which is introduced into the two nostrils 3 fên, and in calibre must fit exactly the nostrils, so as to allow no leakage of air. The tube is pervious, and the apex has an aperture for blowing into. It is employed in constant coughing, in profuse perspiration, body hot, voice hoarse or lost, loss of flesh and constitutional weakness. In the case of hæmoptysis, a cure is guaranteed in seven days by its use. It is only necessary to hem or flow into the tube.

p. 204

To cure red sputum, each time the instrument is used, a small cupful of hsiang-ch‘an, # (a venereal medicine, very costly and highly esteemed, said to be produced from a toad's forehead, and coming from the south); woman's milk, two eggs, and pig's pancreas cut very fine. Mix the whole thoroughly, then put it in a porcelain vessel or silver wine-cup, steam it until well done, and take it every morning for seven days on an empty stomach at the same time as blowing into the pipe.

The second Figure is designed against fulness of the chest, and weakness of the air (constitution). The instrument (see Illustration below) is to be placed on the navel. It will also cure amenorrhœa and spermatorrhœa.

p. 205

Before blowing into it, take 3 li of musk (10 li = 1 candareen), gum olibanum 1 mace; catechu, myrrh, and sandal wood, of each 1 mace. Powder, and with honey form into cakes, one cake to be applied to the navel. Take 1 slice of ginger, the size of the cake and half the thickness of a cash (Chinese copper money); take the artemisia (Tanacetum Chinense) and make into a pill or tuft the size of a bean (number unimportant), and burn till the ginger is hot. When the heat is felt inside, remove the medicine and blow into the instrument. No second application is necessary.

The third instrument (see Figure below) is to be inserted two fên into the meatus urinarius, for the cure of spermatorrhœa; to be introduced smeared with wax. The blowing into it is to be according to the age of the patient, one blow for each year; the number may be increased, but not diminished.

From 5 to 7 days before commencing the use of the instrument, whether the patients be male or female, the body is to be strengthened by the use of good wine, flesh and rice, that the improvement may be speedy.

p. 206

In the fourth illustration (a tube resembling a rib), the patient reclines on the back with warm water or olibanum wine in the mouth; afterwards a young man is to blow into the tube according to the above directions. The following is the method.

Take red lead, etc. (a disgusting preparation made from the menstrual discharge, and so called because of its resemblance to red lead);—the details are hardly fit for publication in English.

A portion is dropped into the small end of the tube and placed in the nose; the youth then blows into the other end with all his force; the sick person waits till he experiences the #. Onions and garlick and all sorts of acid and acrid things are to be avoided. This plan, if followed for a long time, will add to one's longevity. If, after using the method, warmth is felt inside, woman's milk may be drunk.

Footnotes

202:* The Patriarch of Pang is a mythical being, who is reputed to have attained a fabulous longevity. He was 767 years of age when the Yin dynasty came to an end (1123 B.C.). He is said to have nourished himself upon the powder of mother-o’-pearl and similar substances. By some be is regarded as one of the incarnations of Lau-tse.

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