DOCSLIB.ORG

20 Chasing the Vermilion Bird: Late-Medieval Alchemical

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
20 Chasing the Vermilion Bird: Late-Medieval Alchemical 20 ChasingtheVermilionBird:Late-MedievalAlchemicalTransformationsin The Treasure Book of Ilkhan on Chinese Science and Techniques Vivienne Lo 羅維前 and Wang Yidan 王一丹 Edward Schafer’s 1967 title, The Vermilion Bird, was partially completed 1307 to 1316. Even though this is a work dedi- a trope to convey Tang (618–907) Chinese images of the cated mainly to Mongolian history it is also the earliest tropical south as a mysterious, exotic, sensual, and there- history of the world to aspire to cultural inclusivity and fore dangerous, realm. One of its many manifestations was includes the stories of Adam, the Buddah, Moses, as well the red planet Mars emerging from the velvet black of the as Mohammed, and lists Chinese rulers from Pangu 盤古, tropical night. To the medieval Chinese it was the spirit the first mythic king, to the Song and Jin emperors. This ‘Anger of Red Sparks’ or the ‘Dazzling Deluder’. His place is inclusive world history seems to be an intellectual reflec- in the ‘Southern Quarter’… . The Fire red God is embodied tion of the political ambitions, administrative techniques in a Vermilion Bird… . The northward drift of the sun, inhabited by a red crow (a cousin of the Vermilion Bird), and the cosmopolitan tastes of Rashīd al-Dīn’s Mongol to its ultimate goal, the Tropic of Cancer… .1 leaders, tempered with his own experience of the diverse worlds of the Ilkhanate. The Vermilion Bird was custodian of the night sky, emblem Rashīd al-Dīn also masterminded the earliest extant of the southern constellations. Like the other si xiang 四 monograph about Chinese medicine to be produced to 象, the animals of the four directions that we know from the West of China, the Tansūqnāma-i Īlkhān dar funūn-i Han astronomical/astrological traditions, it also lived ‘ulūm-i Khatā’ī (The Treasure Book of the Ilkhan on Chinese within the viscera of the medico-religious body in China, Science and Techniques, hereafter Tansūqnāma); dated determining human health and well-being. Our Vermilion anno Hegirae 713 (1313). Tansūqnāma contains substantial Bird for, example was a nervous, flighty, creature who lived tracts of translation that provide a rich resource for ana- in the Heart and determined a person’s essential stability. lysing the process of interpretation through which remote This chapter draws on others in this volume to highlight the ‘ethnic’ medical ideas were assimilated to the knowledge overlapping registers of medicine, religion and astronomy of an ever-expanding Islamic universe. that made these multiple animal transformations possible Rashīd al-Dīn faced many challenges as he set about (See Despeux, Chapter 2; Zhang, Chapter 27, in this volume). reconciling Chinese and Persian religious realities as they It will then analyse what happened as the Vermilion Bird related to medicine. Some of these he resolved creatively, tried to fly West, outside of its Chinese domains, and en- others he decided not to take on. The esoteric traditions countered conflicting Persian beliefs about the landscape of Chinese internal alchemy (neidan 內), as opposed to of the inner body. waidan 外丹, external alchemy, which was concerned with The rise of the Mongolian empire and its four Mongol drug compounding) were steeped in beliefs about the way khanates – the Yuan in China (1271–1368), the Golden spirits and spirit animals inhabited the body and were Horde in Russia (1240s–1502), the Chagatai in Central active in refining bodily elixirs in the pursuit of long life Asia (1225–1607), and the Ilkhans in Iran (1245–1343) – and transcendent states. The imagery associated with these precipitated the largest scale movement of peoples, ideas spirit animals, and particularly the four directional spirits and practices in the pre-modern world. In the diverse of antiquity (the Vermilion Bird in the South, White Tiger political, religious and commercial exchanges that fol- in the West, Blue-Green Dragon of the East, Black Turtle in lowed there was a tension between the pragmatic need to the North), in their association with specific organs of the develop commensurable knowledge that could facilitate body, features in charts directing Daoist meditation and integration of local cultures to the new world order, and healing, as well as more mainstream medical texts (Fig. 1) the desire to maintain local identity and difference. This (See Zhang, Chapter 27; Shin, Chapter 23, Fig. 23.1, in this tension will be illustrated with a study of the reception volume). While Rashīd al-Dīn accepted and copied many of Chinese medical imagery in the translation projects of medical charts from Chinese printed books, he seems not the eminent Jewish court physician and minister Rashīd to have been keen on the spirit animals. We will suggest al-Dīn Tabīb (1247–1318) of Hamadān. some reasons for his hesitation in embracing and copying Among the prolific works of this polymath the most the complete range of Chinese medico-alchemical illus- famous is Jāmi al-Tawārīkh (Compendium of Chronicles) trations into Tansūqnāma, despite the probability that he was familiar with them. 1 Schafer 1967, p. 125. 292 vivienne lo 羅維前 and wang yidan 王一丹 Background Daoist alchemical tradition in China and at the other in the transformations that took place as Chinese illustrations In 1264 Genghis Khan’s grandson Qubilai Khan (r. 1260–94) and text were adapted to a 1313 Persian treatise on blood consolidated Mongol rule in the Middle Kingdom, con- circulation and physiology in late medieval Tabriz. In the troversially establishing their winter capital in the east enterprise of one particular individual vested in building at Beijing. In 1271 he formally inaugurated China’s Yuan bridges for personal survival and academic excellence, dynasty. Geographically speaking, the Mongol empires we find a world that appreciated the power of universal were reaching their zenith, and facing all the inevitable truth yet understood the creative potential that lies in the tensions that come with rapid imperial expansion. In the flexibility of meaning – a world uniquely receptive to the administration of this new world Qubilai learnt well the kind of adaptations that would facilitate knowledge in lessons of a millennium and more of Chinese imperial transit. We will also discover the limits of that creativity. bureaucratic practice, its attention to empire-wide stan- dardisation of coinage, writing and vehicles, in order to a) Travelling Knowledge and Practice ensure smooth operation of the economy, taxation, and Much of our interest in Jāmi al-Tawārīkh lies in the informa- military movements. Accordingly, he commissioned a new tion about Chinese history that Rashīd al-Dīn assimilated script intended to facilitate communication across an ever from Buddhist monks, travellers and scholars. Two Chinese more linguistically diverse people. described in the introduction apparently brought to Tabriz Under the influence of a powerful Tibetan Buddhist, all kinds of historical and other texts, attributed to the aPhags-pa (1235–died 1280), Qubilai Khan announced work of three monks. They had come themselves across Buddhism as the official religion of a multi ethnic, multi the breadth of the well-ridden routes of the empire from religious empire.2 Of the many religions that he had been China and Tibet, through Dunhuang, Kuche, Khotan and exposed to from across Asia, Tibetan Buddhism was Samarkand to Rashīd al-Dīn’s kitabkhāna, the translation probably closest in its ritual and practice to his native workshop and scriptorium that he established in the suburb Mongolian shamanism and the religion of the last great of Tabriz. This centre in the Rab‘-i Rashīdī, with its hospital empire in central Asia.3 and medical school became what Allsen claims was one of Within 30 years, towards the west of the Yeke Mongol the ‘leading cultural clearing houses of medieval Eurasia’.6 Ulus (the great Mongol patrimony) at the Ilkhanid capital The deep entanglement of medicine and religion in of Azarbaijan, Rashīd al-Dīn, following in the spirit of the transcultural history of Central Asia is well known. the times, converted to Islam. Islam was the faith of the Military campaigns had laid the earliest routes through majority of the non-Mongol local population and that of central Asia, but it was trading and religious networks that his patron, Ghazan Khan (1271–1304), whose own conver- really forged enduring links between Persia and China. sion from Christianity on 16 June 1295 had gained him Large translation projects such as those evidenced by the support of the strategic, but more radical, Muslim the Mogao cave library, and the copying and printing of General, Nawrūz.4 Despite Ghazan Khan’s expedient votive and other Buddhist texts were an integral feature of decision to have all his subjects convert to the Islamic programmes of salvation in the medieval Chinese world, faith, and episodic suppression of competing religions and the production of texts concerned with medicine and under his rule, he apparently also practised Mongolian healing was a part of this enterprise.7 Medical knowledge shamanism, worshipped their celestial deity, Tengri, and and practice moved in both directions, east and west, in kept the Mongolian law and traditions. He had a Chinese the form of books, manuscripts, practices and materia Mongolian wife and spoke Chinese, Arabic and ‘Frank’.5 medica. In the 1st and 2nd centuries ce, for example, In the tension between a belief in the efficacy of political, Sogdian trading families with Persian names were active administrative and religious unity and the enduring affin- in bringing Buddhism from the Indo-Parthian kingdoms ities of birth and ethnic identity peculiar to the Mongolian of western India to China. Familes with Persian names empires, we find the background dynamic to our story of dominated the trade in fragrant herbs and their presence medico-religious resistance, assimilation and transfor- in medieval China stimulated the Tang dynasty vogue for mation – at one end of the tale in a 13th and 14th century exotic commodities.8 Some of those Persians were Christian 2 Wylie 1977, p.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road
    PROCEEDINGS International Mogao Grottes Conference at Dunhuang on the Conservation of Conservation October of Grotto Sites 1993Mogao Grottes Ancient Sites at Dunhuang on the Silk Road October 1993 The Getty Conservation Institute Conservation of Ancient Sites on the Silk Road Proceedings of an International Conference on the Conservation of Grotto Sites Conference organized by the Getty Conservation Institute, the Dunhuang Academy, and the Chinese National Institute of Cultural Property Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang The People’s Republic of China 3–8 October 1993 Edited by Neville Agnew THE GETTY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE LOS ANGELES Cover: Four bodhisattvas (late style), Cave 328, Mogao grottoes at Dunhuang. Courtesy of the Dunhuang Academy. Photograph by Lois Conner. Dinah Berland, Managing Editor Po-Ming Lin, Kwo-Ling Chyi, and Charles Ridley, Translators of Chinese Texts Anita Keys, Production Coordinator Jeffrey Cohen, Series Designer Hespenheide Design, Book Designer Arizona Lithographers, Printer Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 © 1997 The J. Paul Getty Trust All rights reserved The Getty Conservation Institute, an operating program of the J. Paul Getty Trust, works internation- ally to further the appreciation and preservation of the world’s cultural heritage for the enrichment and use of present and future generations. The listing of product names and suppliers in this book is provided for information purposes only and is not intended as an endorsement by the Getty Conservation Institute. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Conservation of ancient sites on the Silk Road : proceedings of an international conference on the conservation of grotto sites / edited by Neville Agnew p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Alchemical Body in Daoism
    The Alchemical Body in Daoism FABRIZIO PREGADIO Abstract This paper surveys some of the main features of the view of the human body in Daoist internal alchemy (neidan 內丹). The first sections discuss three different terms that refer to the body; cosmological, political, theological, natural, and al- chemical metaphors used to describe it; and the use of the body as a support for the system of correspondences that tie the human being to the cosmos. On this background, the development of internal alchemy closely relates to the earlier Daoist meditation practices on the inner gods. The figure of the Red Child (the innermost deity of the human being), in particular, bears close analogies to the “embryo” that alchemists generate through their practices. The final sections are concerned with the two main alchemical charts of the human body and with the use of the Buddhist concept of “dharma-body,” which some masters describe as the true immortal body. It is virtually impossible to distinguish the Daoist understanding of the body from its understanding of the human being, and this point consti- tutes on its own a central aspect of the Daoist way of seeing. For a Daoist, knowledge of the anatomic forms and the physiological workings of the body, or any of its parts and organs, is virtually irrelevant. The physical body performs another function: it serves to support different sets of metaphors that express the relation of the whole person to the Dao, the ultimate principle to which the person owes its existence. These metaphors may be cosmological (the body as a microcosm), political (the body as an administrative system), theological (the body as the residence of inner gods), natural (the body as a “landscape”), and alchemical (the body as a laboratory for compounding the elixir), to name the most important ones.
    [Show full text]
  • Transformation of Capital City in Tang and Song China, Ca. 700-1100
    From Closed Capital to Open Metropolis: Transformation of Capital City in Tang and Song China, ca. 700-1100 Hang Lin [email protected] Abstract. Chang’an of the Tang dynasty (630-907) and Kaifeng of the Song dynasty (960- 1127) represents two major stages in the development of the capital city in premodern China. In contrast to Chang’an, a semi-autonomous walled “urban village” separated by wide expanse of transitory space, Kaifeng was a dense city criss-crossed by ad hoc commercial streets filled with a variety of urban activities during days and nights. Indeed, during this period, a number of significant changes took place, which helped to erode the Tang urban structure and to give birth to a new, one in which the closed walled city transformed into an open market city. Based primarily on textual and material evidence, this paper outlines the characteristics of the layout and structure of the two cities and examines various aspects of the daily life in both cities. This comparative analysis sheds light on the unique pattern of transformation of cities in medieval China. Keywords: Chinese capital city, city transformation, Chang’an, Kaifeng, Tang dynasty, Song dynasty. Introduction Historians of premodern Chinese urbanism have long assumed that the origins of the Chinese imperial city plan stem from a passage in the Kaogong ji (Record of Artificers) section of the classical text Zhouli (Rituals of Zhou), which describes the city of the King of Zhou (Fig. 1): ‘When the artificer build the capital, [the city should be] a square of nine li on each side, with three gates on each side.
    [Show full text]
  • Effect of Wine and Vinegar Processing of Rhizoma Corydalis on the Tissue Distribution of Tetrahydropalmatine, Protopine and Dehydrocorydaline in Rats
    Michigan Technological University Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech Michigan Tech Publications 1-18-2012 Effect of wine and vinegar processing of Rhizoma Corydalis on the tissue distribution of tetrahydropalmatine, protopine and dehydrocorydaline in rats Zhiying Dou Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Kefeng Li Michigan Technological University Ping Wang Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Liu Cao Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Dou, Z., Li, K., Wang, P., & Cao, L. (2012). Effect of wine and vinegar processing of Rhizoma Corydalis on the tissue distribution of tetrahydropalmatine, protopine and dehydrocorydaline in rats. Molecules, 17(1), 951-970. http://doi.org/10.3390/molecules17010951 Retrieved from: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p/1969 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/michigantech-p Part of the Biology Commons Molecules 2012, 17, 951-970; doi:10.3390/molecules17010951 OPEN ACCESS molecules ISSN 1420-3049 www.mdpi.com/journal/molecules Article Effect of Wine and Vinegar Processing of Rhizoma Corydalis on the Tissue Distribution of Tetrahydropalmatine, Protopine and Dehydrocorydaline in Rats Zhiying Dou 1,*, Kefeng Li 2, Ping Wang 1 and Liu Cao 1 1 College of Chinese Materia Medica, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin 300193, China 2 Department of Biological Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI 49931, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel./Fax: +86-22-5959-6235. Received: 29 November 2011; in revised form: 5 January 2012 / Accepted: 9 January 2012 / Published: 18 January 2012 Abstract: Vinegar and wine processing of medicinal plants are two traditional pharmaceutical techniques which have been used for thousands of years in China.
    [Show full text]
  • Ancient Chinese Constellations Junjun Xu Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Room 424, Apartment 20, No
    The Role of Astronomy in Society and Culture Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 260, 2009 c International Astronomical Union 2011 D. Valls-Gabaud & A. Boksenberg, eds. doi:10.1017/S174392131100319X Ancient Chinese constellations Junjun Xu Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics Room 424, Apartment 20, No. 37 Xueyuan Street, Beijing, China email: [email protected] Abstract. China, a country with a long history and a specific culture, has also a long and specific astronomy. Ancient Chinese astronomers observed the stars, named and distributed them into constellations in a very specific way, which is quite different from the current one. Around the Zodiac, stars are divided into four big regions corresponding with the four orientations, and each is related to a totem, either the Azure Dragon, the Vermilion Bird, the White Tiger or the Murky Warrior. We present a general pattern of the ancient Chinese constellations, including the four totems, their stars and their names. Keywords. China, constellations, mansions 1. Introduction Three enclosures, four symbols and twenty-eight mansions characterise the ancient Chinese constellations. This division of the starry sky began to appear in China before the Zhou and Qin dynasties. The three enclosures refer to three areas around the North celestial pole: the Purple Forbidden enclosure, the Supreme Palace enclosure and the Heavenly Market enclosure. The four symbols are distributed near the ecliptic Zodiac and the lunar orbit and are represented by four totems: the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermillion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Black Tortoise of the North. Every symbol was divided into seven sections which were know as mansions.
    [Show full text]
  • Schematizing Plum Blossoms
    Schematizing Plum Blossoms: Understanding Printed Images in Thirteenth-Century China By Mengge Cao B.A., McGill University, 2014 A Thesis Submitted to Department of the Art History and Communication Studies of McGill University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Department of Art History and Communication Studies McGill University Montreal, Quebec December 2016 © Mengge Cao 2016 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the significance of the printed images in the Register of Plum Blossom Portraits (Meihua xishen pu, d. 1238), the earliest extant book illustrating plum blossoms. In particular, it focuses primarily on the visual analogs in the Register, which consists of one hundred titled picture-poem sequences. Approaching the Register through the method of “period eye,” this thesis emphasizes on two factors that shaped the author’s compositional strategy: the potentiality of the print medium and the influence of the Learning of the Way (daoxue) conceptual framework. Section 1 offers factual information concerning the production and reception of the Register. Section 2 reveals the connection between the printed plum blossoms and their counterparts in the Song dynasty (960–1279) illustrated books. Section 3 investigates the conceptual foundation of the visual analogs in the Learning of the Way framework. ii RESUME Cette thèse examine l’impact historique des images imprimées dans la Chine du treizième siècle à travers l’étude du Registre des portraits de fleurs de prunier (Meihua xishen pu, d. 1238), le livre le plus ancien illustrant des fleurs de prunier. Elle concerne plus particulièrement les séquences de poèmes-images présents dans le Registre en tant qu’analog mot-image documenté par la circulation des livres ayant permis une nouvelle approche pour traiter les données visuelles.
    [Show full text]
  • Tracing Changes in Acu- Moxa Therapy During the Transition from the Tang to the Song Dynasties 1
    EASTM 18 (2001): 75-11 I Changing Standards: Tracing Changes in Acu­ moxa Therapy During the Transition from the Tang to the Song Dynasties 1 Asaf Goldschmidt [Asaf Goldschmidt is a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, Israel. He received his Ph.D. in History and Sociology of Science from the University of Pennsylvania in I 999. His dissertation was on "The transformations of Chinese medicine dur­ ing the Northern Song dynasty (920-1127)." The dissertation analysed how by the end of the Northern Song dynasty three past medical approaches converged into one comprehensive medical system. He is currently working on a history of the first imperially sponsored pharmacy in China and on the influence of the Song emperor Huizang on medicine.] * * * Acupuncture is probably one of the most renowned topics when traditional Chi­ nese medicine is discussed. Indeed, more often than not, when people discuss traditional Chinese medicine one of the first issues they discuss is acu-moxa therapy (see definition below). Acu-moxa therapy is certainly one of the most intriguing and unintuitive therapeutic skills in the arsenal of traditional Chinese medicine. However in spite of this, little research has been conducted on the history of this topic. Existing works mostly concentrate on either the question of the origin of acu-moxa therapy or provide a general overview of its history.2 This paper offers a different approach - it compares the contents of six surviving texts of acu-moxa therapy dating to the late Tang and early Song dynasties. By com­ paring the contents of these works, I attempt to examine changes in the manu­ scripts available to practitioners of that era.
    [Show full text]
  • Introduction to Neijing Classical Acupuncture Part II: Clinical Theory Journal of Chinese Medicine • Number 102 • June 2013
    20 Introduction to Neijing Classical Acupuncture Part II: Clinical Theory Journal of Chinese Medicine • Number 102 • June 2013 Introduction to Neijing Classical Acupuncture Part II: Clinical Theory Abstract By: Edward Neal As outlined in Part I of this article, the theories and practices of Neijing classical acupuncture are radically different from the type of acupuncture commonly practised today. In essence, Neijing classical acupuncture is Keywords: a form of clinical surgery, the goal of which is to restore the body’s circulatory pathways and tissue planes to a Acupuncture, state of dynamic balance. In its clinical application, Neijing classical acupuncture is a physician-level skill built Neijing, classical, upon a sophisticated understanding of the innate patterns of nature and an in-depth knowledge of the structure history, basic and physiology of the human body. Neijing classical acupuncture does not depend on point-action theory - the principles conceptual framework that dominates most current thinking in modern acupuncture - for its therapeutic efficacy. Rather, the goal of Neijing classical acupuncture is to regulate the different tissue planes of the body in order to restore the free circulation of blood, and in doing so allow the body to return to its original state of balance and innate self-healing. I. Background theoretical descriptions of acupuncture were outlined The detailed writings laid down in the original texts in the original medical texts where their core principles of Chinese medicine during the later Warring States period (475-221 BCE) and Western Han Dynasty (206 that is the least understood today.3 BCE-9 CE) represent a comprehensive theoretical system that has stood the test of time for over two History of the Lingshu family of texts millennia.
    [Show full text]
  • Meditative Movement, Energetic, and Physical Analyses of Three Qigong Exercises: Unification of Eastern and Western Mechanistic Exercise Theory
    medicines Concept Paper Meditative Movement, Energetic, and Physical Analyses of Three Qigong Exercises: Unification of Eastern and Western Mechanistic Exercise Theory Penelope Klein 1,*, George Picard 1,2, Joseph Baumgarden 1 and Roger Schneider 2 1 Physical Therapy Department, D’Youville College, Buffalo, NY 14201, USA; [email protected] (G.P.); [email protected] (J.B.) 2 Village of Healing and Wellness, St Catharines, ON L2R 3L2, Canada; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Academic Editor: Wen Liu Received: 13 August 2017; Accepted: 16 September 2017; Published: 23 September 2017 Abstract: Qigong is the meditative movement and therapeutic exercise of Eastern medicine. A growing body of evidence is validating its health benefits leading to mechanistic questions of how it works. The purpose of this article is to explore mechanisms of action related to Qigong, with the intent of unifying Eastern and Western exercise theory and to present a model for Qigong exercise analysis. Three exercises from a standardized Qigong form: ‘Plucking the Stars’, ‘Lotus Leaves Rustle in the Wind’, and ‘Pacing Forwards and Backwards’ were selected for meditative, energetic, and physical analyses. Meditative aspects include relaxation response, interoception and exteroception. Energetic aspects include stimulation of meridians through mental intent, acupressure, and self-massage. Physical aspects include flexibility, strength, articular stimulation, neuro-integration, respiratory effect, fascial stretch, visceral massage, balance challenge CranioSacral pump, lymphatic and venous return and glandular stimulation, and physiologic response to relaxation. Knowledge of mechanisms of action for specific Qigong exercises can guide operational definition of Qigong, selection of outcomes assessment in future research, inform prescriptive practice addressing clinical health issues, and advance adoption of Qigong practice within integrative health care.
    [Show full text]
  • Up-Regulation on Cytochromes P450 in Rat Mediated by Total Alkaloid Extract from Corydalis Yanhusuo
    Yan et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2014, 14:306 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/14/306 RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access Up-regulation on cytochromes P450 in rat mediated by total alkaloid extract from Corydalis yanhusuo Jingjing Yan1, Xin He1,2*, Shan Feng1, Yiran Zhai1, Yetao Ma1, Sheng Liang1 and Chunhuan Jin1 Abstract Background: Yanhusuo (Corydalis yanhusuo W.T. Wang; YHS), is a well-known traditional Chinese herbal medicine, has been used in China for treating pain including chest pain, epigastric pain, and dysmenorrhea. Its alkaloid ingredients including tetrahydropalmatine are reported to inhibit cytochromes P450 (CYPs) activity in vitro. The present study is aimed to assess the potential of total alkaloid extract (TAE) from YHS to effect the activity and mRNA levels of five cytochromes P450 (CYPs) in rat. Methods: Rats were administered TAE from YHS (0, 6, 30, and 150 mg/kg, daily) for 14 days, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels in serum were assayed, and hematoxylin and eosin-stained sections of the liver were prepared for light microscopy. The effects of TAE on five CYPs activity and mRNA levels were quantitated by cocktail probe drugs using a rapid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method and reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. Results: In general, serum ALT levels showed no significant changes, and the histopathology appeared largely normal compared with that in the control rats. At 30 and 150 mg/kg TAE dosages, an increase in liver CYP2E1 and CYP3A1 enzyme activity were observed. Moreover, the mRNA levels of CYP2E1 and CYP3A1 in the rat liver, lung, and intestine were significantly up-regulated with TAE from 6 and 30 mg/kg, respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • The Symbol of the Dragon and Ways to Shape Cultural Identities in Institute Working Vietnam and Japan Paper Series
    2015 - HARVARD-YENCHING THE SYMBOL OF THE DRAGON AND WAYS TO SHAPE CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN INSTITUTE WORKING VIETNAM AND JAPAN PAPER SERIES Nguyen Ngoc Tho | University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City THE SYMBOL OF THE DRAGON AND WAYS TO SHAPE 1 CULTURAL IDENTITIES IN VIETNAM AND JAPAN Nguyen Ngoc Tho University of Social Sciences and Humanities Vietnam National University – Ho Chi Minh City Abstract Vietnam, a member of the ASEAN community, and Japan have been sharing Han- Chinese cultural ideology (Confucianism, Mahayana Buddhism etc.) and pre-modern history; therefore, a great number of common values could be found among the diverse differences. As a paddy-rice agricultural state of Southeast Asia, Vietnam has localized Confucianism and absorbed it into Southeast Asian culture. Therefore, Vietnamese Confucianism has been decentralized and horizontalized after being introduced and accepted. Beside the local uniqueness of Shintoism, Japan has shared Confucianism, the Indian-originated Mahayana Buddhism and other East Asian philosophies; therefore, both Confucian and Buddhist philosophies should be wisely laid as a common channel for cultural exchange between Japan and Vietnam. This semiotic research aims to investigate and generalize the symbol of dragons in Vietnam and Japan, looking at their Confucian and Buddhist absorption and separate impacts in each culture, from which the common and different values through the symbolic significances of the dragons are obviously generalized. The comparative study of Vietnamese and Japanese dragons can be enlarged as a study of East Asian dragons and the Southeast Asian legendary naga snake/dragon in a broader sense. The current and future political, economic and cultural exchanges between Japan and Vietnam could be sped up by applying a starting point at these commonalities.
    [Show full text]
  • Thesis Statement Breathing Earth Qigong‐‐Inspiring the Body—Embodying the Spirit Since Much Suffering Can B
    1 THESIS STATEMENT BREATHING EARTH QIGONG‐‐INSPIRING THE BODY—EMBODYING THE SPIRIT SINCE MUCH SUFFERING CAN BE ALLEVIATED BY UNITING BODY AND MIND, THIS PROJECT PROVIDES RESOURCES FOR THEIR INTEGRATION THROUGH MOVEMENT, GESTURE, POSTURE, BREATH PRACTICES, AND VISUALIZATION FOR THE BENEFIT OF BUDDHIST CHAPLAINS AND THEIR CLIENTS. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION—BREATHING EARTH QIGONG: BUDDHISM, CHAPLAINCY, ENGAGEMENT…..2 OVERVIEW OF SELECTED SCIENTIFIC STUDIES OF QIGONG……..................................................8 INVENTORY OF BEQG PRACTICES AND TEACHINGS WITH CROSS‐REFERENCES…………………….11 PRINCIPLES OF BEQG RELEVANT TO CHAPLAINCY……………………………………………………………..….17 1. THE SEVEN LEVELS OF BODY………………………………………………………………………………………..18 2. THE SEGUE………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..….22 3. PIXILATION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………23 4. ATMOSPHERE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….24 5. RELAXED AND ALERT…………………………………………………………………………………………………….24 APPLICATIONS OF BEQG………………………………………………………………………………………………………..26 MINDFULNESS BASED STRESS REDUCTION (MBSR) BASIC COURSE….…………………….……..…..27 MBSR AND BODY POEMS…………………………………………………………………………………………………..30 MBSR GRADUATE LEVEL COURSE…………………………………..…………………………………………….…….33 CANCER SUPPORT GROUPS………………………………………………………………………………………….……..36 ONE‐ON‐ONE: BEQG, CHAPLAINCY, AND A CLIENT WITH A TERMINAL ILLNESS………….……..39 TRAUMA RESILIENCY MODEL (TRM) TRAINING…………………………………………………………..……….44 BEQG RESOURCES FOR CHAPLAINS……………………………………………….............................................46 2 PERSONAL PRACTICES……………………………………………………………………………………..…………….…..46
    [Show full text]