In this study of early medieval Daoist fasting, Shawn Arthur argues that early medieval Daoism was a hybrid of medical and religious thought and practice, and introduces modern Daoist practice and non-Chinese practices for studying early Chinese scriptures. Arthur's innovative methods to describe the role of diets in Daoist practice combine sinology, anthropology, nutritional science, and evolutionary biology.
The primary focus of Early Daoist Dietary Practices is the second volume (juan) of the three-juan Lingbao wufu xu (Array of the five numinous treasure talismans), part of the fifth-century Lingbao (Numinous treasure) corpus. There are seven chapters and an introduction and conclusion. Four appendices include lists of recipe titles, purported effects of the drugs, names of single ingredients, and a selection of recipe translations. Arthur uses an impressive breadth of English-language secondary sources, but few Chinese- or Japanese-language studies.
The exclusive focus on herbal formulas in this juan stands out from the ritual prescriptions for which the Lingbao movement is best known. Arthur argues convincingly that this juan was deliberately incorporated as the preliminary stage in a program for achieving immortality, one that culminates in juan three's talismans and ingestion of the Five Sprouts (wumeng qi). He contrasts his position most conspicuously with those of Gil Raz and Yamada Toshiaki, who both argue that juan two was an anomaly because it reads like no other text in the Lingbao corpus, and should not be considered representative of the Lingbao corpus. A further point, which all three authors might consider in relation to this question, is the express prohibition of healing by plant drugs by Lu Xiujing (406–77), the foremost redactor of the Lingbao corpus (Lu xiansheng daomen kel üe).
The initial five chapters discuss the recipes in detail, moving from more material to more spiritual concerns, and the latter chapters are modern in focus. Medical historians will be interested in chapter 2, which describes the structure of the recipes, their different kinds (decoctions, pills, alcohol), and material practices for making them. Chapter 3 centers on the polyvalent term for fasting, bigu (grain-avoidance), and develops a typology of diets recommended by the Wufu xu, depending on whether regular food, herbs, or solely plain qi are included. Chapter 4 focuses on the physiological effects of the recipes, which include curing disease, maintaining a youthful appearance, eliminating hunger, and dispelling the three worms. Chapter 5 discusses achievements of the subtle body, such as longevity, immortality, control of body gods, and supernatural sight and hearing.
The succeeding chapters are modern in focus and multidisciplinary in approach, drawing on ethnography, evolutionary biology, and pharmacology to interpret the Wufu xu. Chapter 6 offers practical and material insights into the text's prohibitions by describing how three modern practitioners utilized silence, quiescence, and meditation to sustain their arduous fasts. Arthur brings grain-avoidance into conversation with modern biomedical research and makes significant advances in our understanding of how they likely functioned, both physiologically and psychologically. Chapter 7 reviews pharmacological and naturopathic research on the five most commonly occurring ingredients in the recipes, as well as biomedical studies on fasting, and finds that they corroborate many medieval claims of their physiological effects. Chapter 8 uses provocative studies of evolutionary biology to argue that the Daoist preoccupations with parasites and bodily powers are best explained as culturally mediated evolutionary drives. Making an unapologetic assault on purely cultural-determinist analysis, Arthur argues that new directions in the study of religion must broaden to incorporate scientific data (pp. 155, 189).
This refreshing study attempts to shift the discourse of religious studies into a new, more biologically informed direction, inviting further reflection. What is gained by reinterpreting Daoist immortality beliefs as a biological drive called Terror Management, rather than simply a response to the fear of dying? Scientific data is not neutral. How should scholars in the humanities weigh the balance between clinical trial data and cultural analysis? The rise of the biological subject in the twentieth century has seen a global dissemination of Daoism that privileges philosophical, individual, and bodily cultivation over community ritual and complex pantheon. Early Daoist Dietary Practices reproduces that pattern by focusing on an isolated collection of dietary regimes to the exclusion of the Lingbao ritual corpus. The bio-determinism of the work shifts our focus entirely onto the efficacy of preliminary, dietary stages of cultivation, reducing the ingestion of the Five Sprouts, once the ultimate practice, to a peripheral breathing and relaxation exercise.
Overall, Early Daoist Dietary Practices makes medieval Chinese religion accessible to the modern reader from many different vantage points, and will make excellent material for a variety of undergraduate classes on China, religious asceticism, Asian religions, and medical history. Its dramatic methodological forays bring interesting new perspectives, which invite further assessment.
