Kung-Fu, or Tauist Medical Gymnastics: Medicinal Kung: No. 3.—Hsü Shên-wêng's Method of preserving the Air and opening the Passes

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

No. 3.—Hsü Shên-wêng's (#) Method of preserving the Air and opening the Passes.—To cure false satiety (i.e.,—being empty and yet having the feeling of fulness).

The closed places, or passes, are:—

1.—The mouth, the door of the lungs.

2.—The teeth, the leaves of the door.

3.—The larynx, the inspiratory door. (The sounds in Chinese for expiration and inspiration resemble the sounds produced by the acts, as for example hu hsi, to expire and inspire respectively).

4.—The gullet, the mouth of the stomach.

5.—The cardiac orifice.

6.—The pyloric orifice.

7.—The anus.

The soul goes by the head in the good, and by the fundament in the bad, into the earth. The nine openings of the body do not here require to be specified.

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Sit firmly, place the two hands cross-wise on the shoulders (the naked beggars in winter adopt this attitude to keep themselves warm), let the eyes look to the left side, move the air round in 12 mouthfuls; then turn the eyes to the right, and respire as before.

The attitude resembles Amiot's No. 6, which is said to be against fulness and embarrassment in the intestines, with weakness.

The Protecting Harmony Pills.

Prescription.—Take of shan-ch‘a-jou (#), fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida, 2 ounces; shên-ch‘ü (fried); pan-hsia (#), tubers of Pinellia tuberifera (or rad. Ari macrori); ginger juice to be beaten with it; fu-ling, of each 1 ounce; lo-fu-tse (fried) #, Raphanus sativus (radish seeds); orange peel; lien-ch‘iöh (#), lotus fruit, of each 5 mace; powder, form the shên-ch‘ü into a paste, with which to make the pills. Dose, 30 to 50, to be taken in a little soup (hot water).

Next: No. 4.—The Immortal with the Iron Crutch pointing the Way