Glossary of Chinese Terms

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Glossary of Chinese Terms The English translations present my preferred translation first, followed by alternatives. Pinyin Chinese English Definition Bagua 八卦 Bagua The eight primary trigrams from the Book of Changes. See gua. dan 丹 dan, elixir, The substance responsible for the cinnabar, drug transformation of a human being into an immortal. dantian 丹田 dantian, Cinnabar Often presented simply as field 田, Field, Elixir Field this is the Lower Dantian, one of the Three Elixir Fields. It is an energetic center located in the abdomen, roughly three inches below the naval and three inches inside the body. However, locations change according to the internal alchemy teaching. Dao 道 Dao or Way Ultimate reality in Daoism. dizhi 地支 Earthly Branches, Ten components that are combined Terrestrial with the Heavenly Stems to make Branches the sixty-year cycle in the Chinese calendar. They are used in internal alchemy to manage times and means of practice. See tiangan. dong 洞 dong, grotto, Heavenly abodes. Xiao uses it to cavern mean the scaffolding of the body within which a person forms with a shen. Dumai 督脈 Governing Vessel The vessel beginning in the coccyx that lays along the spine, around the head, and ends at the upper lip. See mai. 210 Glossary of Chinese Terms (cont.) Pinyin Chinese English Definition fangshi 方士 master of the Commonly referred to as magicians methods in the West, these masters are consulted for various reasons, usually having to do with finding auscpicious dates for ritual events. In the Han, they were the first to develop pharmacopia for the pursuit of longevity and immortality. gua, 卦，卦象 Trigram or Graphics from the Book of Changes guaxiang hexagram composed of sets of solid and broken lines—numbering three in the case of trigrams or six in the case of hexagrams. These images are used to non-verbally express the subtle transitions and exchanges between the two primary forces of the universe, yin and yang. See yin and yang. guan 官 sense or official An aspect of the bureaucratic body associated with the senses, which are often trying to leave the body in search of stimuli. houtian 後天 After Heaven The state of the forces of the universe after they are manifested in the mundane world. Once in this state, the forces continuously drift from Dao. hun 魂 hun Part of the compound, hunpo, associated with Heaven and yang. Three hun reside in the body. huohou 火候 firing times Moments in the rhythm of internal alchemy when the practitioner either increases the intensity of the process (martial fire wuhuo 武火, also called yang fire 陽火) or decreases the intensity civil fire (wenhuo 文火)..

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The 100 Years Anglo-Chinese Calendar, 1St Jan. 1776 to 25Th Jan
: THE 100 YEARS ANGLO-CHINESE CALENDAR, 1st JAN., 1776 to 25th JAN., 187G, CORRESPONDING WITH THE 11th DAY of the 11th MOON of the 40th YEAR of the EEIGN KIEN-LUNG, To the END of the 14th YEAR of the REIGN TUNG-CHI; TOGETIIER WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING SEVERAL INTERESTING TABLES AND EXTRACTS. BY IP. LOUE;EIE,0. SHANGHAI rRINTED AT THE " NORTH-CHINA HERALD " OFFICE, 1872. -A c^ V lo ; ; PREFACE. In presenting the 100 Years Anglo-Chinese Calendar to the public, the compiler claims no originality for his work, inasmuch as, since the year 1832,* Calendars in somewhat similar form have been yearly issued from the press in China ; but, as it is doubtful if a complete series of these exists, and as, in the transaction of business, whether official, legal or commercial, between Foreigners and Chinese, and in the study of Chinese History which is now so intimately connected with foreign nations, a knowledge of the corresponding dates is quite necessary, it is hoped that this compilation will be found useful, and especially so in referring to the date of past events, and in deciding the precise day, according to the Chinese and Chris- tian Calendars, on which they occurred. Commencing with the last quarter of the past century (1st January, 1776), the Calendar embraces the peiiod when the first British Embassy (Lord Macartney's in 1793) arrived in China. For convenience sake the Calendar has been divided into 10 parts, each embracing a period of ten years of the Christian era and ends with the close of the 14th year of the present reign Tung-chi, —the 25th January, 1876.
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