Kung-Fu, or Tauist Medical Gymnastics: Medicinal Kung: No. 1—The Honourable and Real Form of the Great Pure Ancestral Teacher

Kung-Fu, or Tauist Medical Gymnastics, by John Dudgeon, [1895], at sacred-texts.com

Medicinal Kung (#).

No. 1.—The Honourable and Real Form of the Great Pure Ancestral Teacher.—To cure pain in the abdomen and suddenly alternating cold and hot.

Sit upright, with both hands embrace below the navel, wait till the tan-t‘ien is warmed, perform the kung, revolving the air in 49 mouthfuls. *

In one work this Figure is termed "Twisting (or Pressing) and Holding the Tan-t‘ien.—"For the cure of abdominal pain and nourishing the strength of the male principle.

The Leading Air Soup.

Prescription.—Take of ts‘ang-shu [or ts‘ang-chu] (#), Atractylis ovata; hsiang-fu (#), Cyperus rotundus; ch‘ên-p‘i (#), orange peel; chw‘an-hiung (#), Pleurospermum Sp., or Conioselinum univitatum (umbelliferae); pai-chih (#), root of Angelica anomala; fu-ling (#), fungoid growths on roots of Pachyma cocos; t‘u-fu-ling (#), root of the smilax (China-root); shên-ch‘ü (#), a celebrated medicine cake for curing colds and dispersing wind, brought from Chin-chew near Amoy (the name means "divine leaven"); tzŭ-su (#), Perilla ocymoides; dried ginger and liquorice;—of each the same quantity. Make a decoction in water.

Footnotes

153:* The illustration is that of a Tauist priest sitting cross-legged as described. As the illustrations are too numerous and occupy too much space, they are omitted unless the positions or figures are more or less striking, and where they resemble or are identical with those already given, reference to the illustration is sufficient.

Next: No. 2.—The Venerable Prince Li playing the Lute