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East Asian Culture and History (EAST 4591) Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages The Physiology of the Mind in Chinese Medicine: Interpretation of the “Five Spirits” 五神 in Zhang Jingyue’s Categories of the Canons (1624) Minh Khai Mai-Thi Master’s Thesis (60 Credits) in East Asian Culture and History (EAST 4591) Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages UNIVERSITY OF OSLO Autumn 2017 The Physiology of the Mind in Chinese Medicine: Interpretation of the 五神 “Five Spirits” in Zhang Jingyue’s Categories of the Canons (1624) Minh Khai Mai-Thi i In my humble opinion, spirit is the transformations of one’s brightest intelligence—simply the regulating principle of qi that is all. ZHANG JINGYUE © Minh Khai Mai-Thi 2017 The Physiology of the Mind in Chinese Medicine: Interpretation of the 五神 “Five Spirits” in Zhang Jingyue’s Categories of the Canons (1624) http://www.duo.uio.no Print: Reprosentralen, University of Oslo ii Abstract This thesis will argue that psychological theory was always a central part of Chinese scholarly medicine. Such theories were prominent already in the early literature and continued to be discussed and elaborated in the further development of the medical discourse. Even so, they have not received much academic attention and are therefore often overlooked in the wider discussions of Chinese and East-Asian theories of the mind. This study is the first in-depth analysis of the conceptual model known as the “five spirits” (wushen 五神). It is also the first to explore this topic specifically from the angle of medical discourse. The analysis is based on a 17th century medical commentary that has not yet been translated or thoroughly discussed in any international publication. Theory is an abstract representation that seeks to explain why and how a certain phenomenon occurs. To understand such abstractions, one has to be familiar with the basic concepts, arguments, and practices of that theoretical field. The meaning of a chemical formula, for example, cannot be derived from its symbolic representation alone, but relies on a comprehension of how it relates to actual processes in nature. The goal of this study has been to understand the Chinese medical conceptualization of the mind not just as an abstract theory, but also as a concrete interpretation of mental and physical functions. However, since it was articulated in a language and style of reasoning unfamiliar to modern readers, such concrete implications can be harder to see. The main argument of this thesis is that to understand this model of the mind, we need to analyse its terminology, conceptual structure, and interpretation in the medical discourse. It is further hypothesized that such an understanding can be obtained from an attentive reading of medical commentaries. The main source of this study—the Categories of the Canon (Leijing 類經)—is a late Ming dynasty commentary to the two main texts of the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing 黃帝內經). Chinese scholars describe it as one of the most influential works in the medical commentarial tradition. It was chosen because it had been recommended by a renowned Chinese physician as a reference to the five spirits. In itself it is only a small segment of the larger medical discourse. Yet as a commentary, it reaches back to the early formative literature and across the later developments, thereby providing us a glimpse of the extended historical dialogue between medical scholars. Keywords: Chinese medicine, mind, psychology, physiology, body-mind relationship, Neijing, Leijing, commentarial tradition, Zhang Jingyue, Zhang Jiebin. iii Acknowledgements First of all I wish to express my utmost gratitude to my supervisor Halvor Eifring, professor in Chinese at the University of Oslo. Having someone with his competency that is always interested in reading and discussing your material has been an immense privilege. As a supervisor, he is calm and supportive, asking open-ended questions that allow you to develop your own perspectives. For that reason it always feels safe to receive his criticism, corrections, and advise. It has taught me incredibly much and challenged me to get the most out of this material and the resources at hand. I would also like to thank some of my former teachers. First of all, my teacher of traditional medicine in Vietnam, Nguyen Dai Phuc, who introduced me to the theory of the five spirits. His lectures on this subject were always clear and concise, and it has been joyful to retrieve many of his perspectives in the source material of this study. I wish to also express my gratitude to my late teacher in China, Wang Ju-yi 王居易, who first drew my attention to the Categories of the Canons and Zhang Jingyue’s writings. His profound theoretical and clinical understanding will always serve as an inspiration to me. This project would never have been realized without the help of another group of educators: the teachers of the Chinese language at the Oslo and Peking Universities. A special thanks to Liu Baisha whose warmth, humour, and enthusiasm I will never forget. Thanks also to Wang Qi and Song Wei who made our first introduction to Chinese such a joyous experience. In regard to the study of Classical Chinese, I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Christoph Harbsmeier for sharing his tremendous knowledge of languages and teaching me the delights of grammatical analysis. Many thanks also to my fellow students and friends at the unofficial Reading Group of Classical Chinese who helped me build the courage and experience to embark on the translation of such historical sources. A special thanks to Gunnar Sjøsted, Anders Sydkjør, and Guttorm Gundersen for all the interesting discussions and always sharing the latest updates on useful tools and information. Finally, this work would never have been possible without the love and support of my husband and children—Dong, Mai Chi, and Kien—who have been there for me every single day of this process. Heartfelt thanks also to all friends and colleagues that have encouraged me along the way. th — Minh Khai Mai-Thi, November 26 2017. iv Abbreviations Inner Canon (corpus) Huangdi Neijing 黃帝內經 Basic Questions Huangdi Neijing Suwen 黃帝內經素問 Divine Pivot Huangdi Neijing Lingshu 黃帝內經靈樞 Categories of the Canons Leijing 類經 HDC Hanyu Da Cidian 漢語大詞典 (comprehensive historical Chinese dictionary) TLS Thesaurus Linguae Sericae (historical and comparative Encyclopaedia of Chinese Conceptual Schemes) CMT Chinese Medical Terms (digital dictionary of Chinese medicine) PDCM A Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine SDC Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese v Table of Contents ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... IV ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. VI INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................... 1 1. APPROACHING CHINESE MEDICAL LITERATURE ............................................. 11 1.1 LANGUAGE AND TERMINOLOGY ...................................................................................... 13 1.2 CONCEPTUALIZATION ...................................................................................................... 17 1.3 DISCOURSE ...................................................................................................................... 21 2. MIND IN THE HISTORY OF CHINESE MEDICINE ................................................ 26 2.1 PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY IN MEDICAL DISCOURSES ...................................................... 26 2.2 FORMATIVE CONCEPTUALIZATION IN THE YELLOW EMPEROR’S INNER CANON ................. 29 2.3 ELABORATION OF THE FIVE SPIRITS IN THE CATEGORIES OF THE CANONS ........................ 33 3. GENERAL ASPECTS OF THE BODY-MIND RELATIONSHIP .............................. 39 3.1 ESSENCE, SPIRIT, AND QI: THE ROOTS OF LIFE ............................................................... 40 3.1.1 From Cosmology to Physiology .............................................................................. 41 3.1.2 The Manifestation of Life ........................................................................................ 42 3.1.3 A Transformation of Qi Rooted in Essence ............................................................. 44 3.1.4 The Inherent Regulation of the Body ....................................................................... 46 3.1.5 An Elevated Form of Consciousness ....................................................................... 48 3.1.6 The Distinction of the Human Spirit ....................................................................... 49 3.2 SPIRIT AND FORM: THE EMBODIED MIND........................................................................ 51 3.2.1 The Outer Form and Inner Condition ..................................................................... 52 3.2.2 The Unification of Sensory and Mental Perception ................................................ 55 3.3 VISCERAL MANIFESTATIONS: PSYCHOLOGY WITHIN THE LIVING BODY ......................... 59 3.3.1 Visceral Manifestations ........................................................................................... 59 3.3.2 Storage (cang 藏)
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