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Li Shaojun
Li Shaojun (Chinese: 李少君; Wade–Giles: Li Shao-chün, fl. 133 BCE) was a fangshi (master of esoterica), reputed xian (transcendent; immortal), retainer of Emperor Wu of Han, and the earliest known Chinese alchemist. In the early history of Chinese waidan (External Alchemy), Li is the only fangshi whose role is documented by both historical (for instance, Shiji) and alchemical (Baopuzi) sources.
The earliest record of Li Shaojun was contemporaneously written during the reign of his patron Emperor Wu (141-87 BCE): Sima Qian's c. 94 BCE Shiji (Records of the Historian) has nearly identical versions in the "Annals of Emperor Wu" (chapter 6) and "The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices". In addition, the c. 111 CE Hanshu "Book of Han" (25A) has a "closely parallel" version.
The Shiji chronicles Li Shaojun as part of a lengthy debate on whether and how Emperor Wu should perform the Feng (封) and Shan (禪) state rituals on Mount Tai in honor of Heaven and Earth. Debaters were divided between two factions, the fangshi maintained that Wu should emulate the Yellow Emperor, their main deity, who obtained immortality through performing the rituals, while the Confucianist court officials such as Gongsun Hong suggested that the emperor should only express gratitude to Heaven and Earth.
The Liji narrative about Li Shaojun begins with his intentionally obscure origins and introduction to Emperor Wu, to whom he recommends cizao (祠灶; "sacrifice to the furnace/stove") and (穀道; gudao; "the Way of [avoiding] grains", aka 辟穀; bigu; "Daoist grain avoidance") as methods to attain longevity/immortality. Li does not name which furnace gods to worship, but the Stove God Zaoshen is traditionally associated both with alchemy and bigu, in Chinese raw/cooked logic, since cereal grains were cooked on the stove.
It was at this time also that Li Shaojun appeared before the emperor to expound the worship of the god of the fireplace and explain his theories on how to achieve immortality through dietary restrictions [祠灶穀道卻老方見]. The emperor treated him with great respect. Li Shaojun had formerly been a retainer of the marquis of Shenze and specialized in magical arts [主方]. He kept his real age and place of birth a secret, always telling people that he was seventy years old. Claiming that he could make the spirits serve him and prevent old age [能使物卻老], he travelled about to the courts of the various feudal lords, expounding his magic. He had no wife or children. When people heard of his power to command the spirits and drive away death [使物及不死] they showered him with a constant stream of presents, so that he always had more than enough food and clothing and money. Impressed that he seemed to enjoy such affluence without engaging in any business, and also not knowing where he was from, people put even greater faith in his claims and vied with each other in waiting on him. He relied wholly on his ability to work magic and was clever at making pronouncements that were later found to have been curiously apt [資好方善為巧發奇中].
Compare alternate translations of "art of making offerings to the (spirit of the) Furnace (i.e. carrying on alchemical practices), and knew how to live without (eating) cereals and without growing old", and "method of worshipping the furnace and abstaining from cereals to prevent old age". Burton Watson translates shiwu (使物) as " make the spirits serve him" and "command the spirits", interpreting wu (物; "thing, matter, phenomenon") as guiwu (鬼物; "ghosts; spirits; divine beings"); Joseph Needham translates "using natural substances to bring about perpetual youth", interpreting wu as yaowu (藥物; "medicines; drugs").
Since Li intentionally kept his birthplace and age secret, little is certain about his life, even his name is a pseudonym: Li the Youthful Lord. Li (李; "plum") is a very common Chinese surname and Shaojun (少君; "Youthful Lord") is a courtesy name—also used by Dou Shaojun (竇少君) or Dou Guangguo (竇廣國, d. 151 BCE), the younger brother of Empress Dou. Compare the 2nd-century BCE fangshi spiritualist mentioned below, Li Shaoweng (李少翁; "Li the Youthful Old Man"). The Shiji context continues with two "self-authenticating" stories about Li Shaojunbeing able to recall incidents of the distant past. The former describes him at a party given by Empress Wang Zhi's half-brother Tian Fen (田蚡, d. 131 BCE), who was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Wu'an in 141 BCE.
Once when he was staying with Tian Fen, the marquis of Wu'an, and was drinking with the marquis and his friends, he told one of the guests, an old man of over ninety, that he had gone with the man's grandfather to such and such a place to practise archery. The old man had in fact, when he was a child, accompanied his grandfather, and remembered visiting the place that Li Shaojun mentioned. With this the whole party was struck with amazement.
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Li Shaojun
Li Shaojun (Chinese: 李少君; Wade–Giles: Li Shao-chün, fl. 133 BCE) was a fangshi (master of esoterica), reputed xian (transcendent; immortal), retainer of Emperor Wu of Han, and the earliest known Chinese alchemist. In the early history of Chinese waidan (External Alchemy), Li is the only fangshi whose role is documented by both historical (for instance, Shiji) and alchemical (Baopuzi) sources.
The earliest record of Li Shaojun was contemporaneously written during the reign of his patron Emperor Wu (141-87 BCE): Sima Qian's c. 94 BCE Shiji (Records of the Historian) has nearly identical versions in the "Annals of Emperor Wu" (chapter 6) and "The Treatise on the Feng and Shan Sacrifices". In addition, the c. 111 CE Hanshu "Book of Han" (25A) has a "closely parallel" version.
The Shiji chronicles Li Shaojun as part of a lengthy debate on whether and how Emperor Wu should perform the Feng (封) and Shan (禪) state rituals on Mount Tai in honor of Heaven and Earth. Debaters were divided between two factions, the fangshi maintained that Wu should emulate the Yellow Emperor, their main deity, who obtained immortality through performing the rituals, while the Confucianist court officials such as Gongsun Hong suggested that the emperor should only express gratitude to Heaven and Earth.
The Liji narrative about Li Shaojun begins with his intentionally obscure origins and introduction to Emperor Wu, to whom he recommends cizao (祠灶; "sacrifice to the furnace/stove") and (穀道; gudao; "the Way of [avoiding] grains", aka 辟穀; bigu; "Daoist grain avoidance") as methods to attain longevity/immortality. Li does not name which furnace gods to worship, but the Stove God Zaoshen is traditionally associated both with alchemy and bigu, in Chinese raw/cooked logic, since cereal grains were cooked on the stove.
It was at this time also that Li Shaojun appeared before the emperor to expound the worship of the god of the fireplace and explain his theories on how to achieve immortality through dietary restrictions [祠灶穀道卻老方見]. The emperor treated him with great respect. Li Shaojun had formerly been a retainer of the marquis of Shenze and specialized in magical arts [主方]. He kept his real age and place of birth a secret, always telling people that he was seventy years old. Claiming that he could make the spirits serve him and prevent old age [能使物卻老], he travelled about to the courts of the various feudal lords, expounding his magic. He had no wife or children. When people heard of his power to command the spirits and drive away death [使物及不死] they showered him with a constant stream of presents, so that he always had more than enough food and clothing and money. Impressed that he seemed to enjoy such affluence without engaging in any business, and also not knowing where he was from, people put even greater faith in his claims and vied with each other in waiting on him. He relied wholly on his ability to work magic and was clever at making pronouncements that were later found to have been curiously apt [資好方善為巧發奇中].
Compare alternate translations of "art of making offerings to the (spirit of the) Furnace (i.e. carrying on alchemical practices), and knew how to live without (eating) cereals and without growing old", and "method of worshipping the furnace and abstaining from cereals to prevent old age". Burton Watson translates shiwu (使物) as " make the spirits serve him" and "command the spirits", interpreting wu (物; "thing, matter, phenomenon") as guiwu (鬼物; "ghosts; spirits; divine beings"); Joseph Needham translates "using natural substances to bring about perpetual youth", interpreting wu as yaowu (藥物; "medicines; drugs").
Since Li intentionally kept his birthplace and age secret, little is certain about his life, even his name is a pseudonym: Li the Youthful Lord. Li (李; "plum") is a very common Chinese surname and Shaojun (少君; "Youthful Lord") is a courtesy name—also used by Dou Shaojun (竇少君) or Dou Guangguo (竇廣國, d. 151 BCE), the younger brother of Empress Dou. Compare the 2nd-century BCE fangshi spiritualist mentioned below, Li Shaoweng (李少翁; "Li the Youthful Old Man"). The Shiji context continues with two "self-authenticating" stories about Li Shaojunbeing able to recall incidents of the distant past. The former describes him at a party given by Empress Wang Zhi's half-brother Tian Fen (田蚡, d. 131 BCE), who was enfeoffed as the Marquis of Wu'an in 141 BCE.
Once when he was staying with Tian Fen, the marquis of Wu'an, and was drinking with the marquis and his friends, he told one of the guests, an old man of over ninety, that he had gone with the man's grandfather to such and such a place to practise archery. The old man had in fact, when he was a child, accompanied his grandfather, and remembered visiting the place that Li Shaojun mentioned. With this the whole party was struck with amazement.