Chen Tuan: Discussions and Translations
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Chen Tuan: Discussions and Translations Table of Contents CHEN TUAN: DISCUSSIONS AND TRANSLATIONS.....................................................1 Discussion 1 The Immortal and his Legend...........................................................................3 Saints and Saints−Legends.............................................................................................4 Sage, Immortal, Founder, Patriarch...............................................................................5 Chen Tuan in Song Sources...........................................................................................7 Later Legend Lineages.................................................................................................13 Integrating the Strands.................................................................................................15 Discussion Two Physiognomy and Legitimation.................................................................19 Practical Application....................................................................................................21 Chen Tuan in Physiognomic Texts..............................................................................24 Traditional Textbooks..................................................................................................26 Chen Tuan’s Authorship..............................................................................................28 Physiognomic Theory..................................................................................................29 Bone Structure and Complexion..................................................................................32 The Voice and the Eyes................................................................................................33 Discussion Three The Official Face of Chen Tuan.............................................................36 The Myth of the Imperial Adviser................................................................................37 Chen Tuan and the Imperial Court...............................................................................40 Historical Encounters...................................................................................................43 Later Evaluations and Embellishments........................................................................46 The “Record of Master Xiyi of the Great Hua”...........................................................49 Translation One Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian 47.1a−14b................................................60 Origins and Youth[1]...................................................................................................60 Early Involvement with the Imperial Court.................................................................60 Spiritual Development..................................................................................................61 With Zhou Shizong......................................................................................................63 The Beginning of the Song Dynasty............................................................................63 With Song Taizong.......................................................................................................64 Imperial Messengers....................................................................................................67 Feats of Prognostication...............................................................................................68 Sleep]............................................................................................................................72 Transformation and Ultimate Return...........................................................................80 Postscript......................................................................................................................82 Translation Two Taihua xiyi zhi, ch. 1.................................................................................91 i Chen Tuan: Discussions and Translations Table of Contents Translation Three Fengjian[1]............................................................................................108 1. Definitions of Main Terms.....................................................................................108 2. Physical Appearance According to the Five PHASES..........................................108 3. Types of Bodies According to Animal Morphology..............................................109 ....................................................................................................................................1114. The Appearance of the Wood−type.......................................................................110 5. Impure or Mixed Types..........................................................................................111 6. Mixtures According to the Dynamics of Phases....................................................112 7. Spirit as Deep or Shallow.......................................................................................112 8. Energy as Pure or Turbid.......................................................................................113 9. Complexion as Full or Transparent........................................................................114 10. Complexion as Young or Old...............................................................................114 11. Physical Form and Spirit in Terms of Surplus and Deficiency[17].....................114 12. Interaction Patterns of the Various Constituents..................................................115 13. Thin Appearance..................................................................................................115 14. Signs of Long Life................................................................................................116 15. The Importance of the Mind.................................................................................117 16. Obstruction...........................................................................................................117 17. Yin and Yang.......................................................................................................118 18. Noble and Humble...............................................................................................118 Translation Four Mayi daozhe zhengyi xinfa....................................................................125 Translation Five Yin Zhenjun huandan gezhu (DZ 134, fasc. 59)...................................133 BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................................145 PRIMARY SOURCES ON CHEN TUAN................................................................145 SECONDARY STUDIES .........................................................................................153 ii CHEN TUAN: DISCUSSIONS AND TRANSLATIONS © Livia Kohn 2001 This collection of three essays and five translations on the Song Daoist saint and immortal Chen Tuan goes back to work done over about a decade, from 1978 to 1990. It began with my dissertation (Leben und Legende des Chen Tuan, 1981), which focused on questions of legend development and the problem of what “immortality” meant as a religious ideal in the Song dynasty. Later I supplemented this work with materials on Chen Tuan as a physiognomist. I’d been aware of this role of his while writing my dissertation but could only access it when I went to Taiwan later. There I picked up the physiognomic handbook Shenxian quanbian, both in a Ming−dynasty manuscript (from the National Library) and in a modern paperback reprint. I then wrote about both this book and the Fengjian, a physiognomic manual closely linked with Chen Tuan, in articles which were published in Asian Folklore Studies (1986, 1988) Following this, I prepared a volume for Taoist Resources (2.1) on Chen Tuan, scheduled to coincide with the thousandth anniversary of his “immortal transformation” in 989. It contains an English summary of the results of my dissertation on legend development and a translation of his official Songshi biography, as well as Li Yuanguo’s study of Chen Tuan as an Yijing philosopher, Terry Russell’s examination of Chen Tuan in Japan, and Teri Takehiro’s translation of a Ming work on inner alchemical soul−travels known as “sleep.” Working along, I wrote various presentations and made translations of materials that never were integrated into any published work. These materials I would now like to make accessible in digital form on e−Dao. They consist of three discussions and five translations. The three discussions summarize my dissertation in English and present materials discussed in the article on Chen Tuan as physiognomist. They are not mere reprints, although they pick up the same materials, but add additional reflections and integrate more recent studies into the discussion. They are especially useful for students who wish to know about Chen Tuan’s legends and his role at the Song court but do not read German. The five translations have, for the most part, not been published previously. The first is the complete and amply annotated rendition of Chen Tuan’s life according to the Lishi zhenxian tidao tongjian, a key source for the dissertation, but not translated there. The second is the literary rendition of Chen Tuan’s vita in the Taihua xiyi zhi, which is translated into German as an appendix of the dissertation. The third, the physiognomic treatise Fengjian, appears