WEISHENG JIEYIAO

MS 2600
MS Short Title WEISHENG JIEYIAO
Text WEISHENG JIEYIAO; CONTAINING TRADITIONAL MEDICAL INFORMATION AND DAOIST METHODS OF MEDITATION. COMPILED BY GUEIYANG SHANREN
Description MS in Chinese on paper, China, Qing dynasty, 17th-18th c., 82 pp., 24x14 cm, up to 17 columns, (18x11 cm), 12-25 characters in Chinese book script, 32 full-page drawings of positions.
Binding China, 18th-19 c., stitched on 4 stations (Xianzhuang), blue paper covers.
Provenance 1. Ekky Chung collection, Indonesia/Beverly Hills, California (-1997); 2. Sam Fogg Rare Books Ltd, London.
Commentary According to its title, the author intended to provide readers with a short cut to the healthy long life. The first method of meditation is Baduanjin (8 sections of brocade), so called because it follows the theory of the Eight Diagrams, and is composed of 8 poses. Each pose is illustrated and contains a short description of its function. The next method is called 'the meditation of the 24 solar terms', also illustrated and described. This type of meditation comprises 24 poses, each of which is supposed to remedy certain diseases. Two ancient Daoist exercises, recorded in the following pages, for the benefit of the internal organs, were written as verses, the last one composed in 948.
Place of origin China
Dates 17th-18th Century