>The Taoist adept attempted to reduce his intake of food as far as possible, because the consumption of food merely contributed to maintenance of the physical body and produced excreta that clogged the various interior passages, which were to be kept open wide for circulation of the life-forces. Even cereals were to be avoided, because the body was inhabited by maleficent spirits (_kuei_) who were nourished by cereals. >The notion of the body being inhabited by both beneficent and malevolent spirits was further extended to the conception of the body as a microcosm corresponding to the macrocosm of the universe. Such an imaginative conception might have had its origin, at least in part, in certain passages of _Chuang Tzu_, where the relativity of things is most powerfully delineated. . . . (Thompson, 1979, p. 104)
Posted on: Fri, 09 Aug 2013 23:40:23 +0000
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