Page 558 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

518 THE ENCYCLOPE DI A OF TAOISM A- L

especially as a foundation of alchemical thought. The textual history of the
work is highly complex, and it has been transmitted in several versions and
redaction , including two in the Daozang (CT 1044 and CT 1478).
The Huashu was written by the shadowy figure Tan Qiao m:'liliR (ca. 860-ca.
940), but it was immediately appropriated by the high official of the Southern
Tang, Song Qiqiu *~ IT (886-959), who wrote a preface and publi hed the
work under his own name in 930. Thus, in official and private catalogues of
the Song the work is listed with Song Qiqiu a its author, and in some still
current versions it title is given as Qiqiu zi ~ .li or Book of Master Qiqiu.
The record was set straight, however, in a postface by *Chenjingyuan, dated
1060, in which he reports the sordid details concerning Song's theft of the
book, based on information derived from *Chen Tuan (who referred to Tan
Qiao as a "master and friend," shiyou gjji:6t).
It has been suggested, furthermore, that Tan Qiao was, in fact, identical
with the roughly contemporary (though perhaps slightly later) and more fully
documented Taoist figure with the same surname, *Tan Zixiao (fl. 935-after
963), the founder of the *Tianxin zhengfa. The conflation of the two Taoist
figures gained currency from the latter part of the sixteenth century, and it is
reflected for instance in the *Wanli xu daozang edition of the work (CT 1478),
which gives the hao of the author as Zixiao zhenren ~ 1.!t ~ A, "The Perfected
(Tan) Zixiao." The identity of Tan Qiao as Tan Zixiao remains, nonetheless,
highly questionable.
The Huashu is normally divided into six chapters, each of which deals with a
particular kind of transformation, namely, 1. "Way Transformation" CDaohua"
m it); 2. "Techniques Transformation" CShuhua" {;t]it); 3. "Virtue Transfor-
mation" CDehua" 1iit); 4. "Benevolence Transformation" CRenhua" tAt);
5· "Food Transformation" CShihua" 1t it); and 6. "Frugality Transformation"
('Jianhua" ~it). It has been argued, however, that the original structure of
the work was quinary, and that the first chapter- from the hands of the real
author, Tan Qiao- was conceived as prefatory.

Poul ANDERSEN
m Didier 1998; Ding Zhenyan and Li Sizhen 1996; Lin Shengli 1989; Qing
Xitai 1988-95, 2: 484- 92