Ge Hong's Health Preservation - Cutting off Grains

The practice of taking medicine to prolong life as mentioned by Ge Hong is always associated with cutting off grains. One of the effects of taking medicine is that one gradually loses hunger, muscles do not shrink, and people become fatter. Because one can gradually reduce the normal diet of grains without knowing hunger and eventually completely cut off all grains, it is called "cutting off grains and eliminating grains", also known as "bi gu", which is an important method of cultivation and health preservation for the ancients. A normal person survives by eating water and grains. If they don't eat for half a day, they will feel hungry. If they don't eat for seven days, it often leads to the drying up of the stomach and intestines and death. However, those who practice fasting can go without grains for months or even years, and their mental strength is superior to that of ordinary people. Ge Hong's teacher, Zheng Yin, was skilled in the art of cutting through grains. Ge Hong witnessed his teacher's presence at Tongshan Valley for as long as two years. Zheng Yin was not good at drinking, but during the period of cutting the valley, he could drink two dou of alcohol at a time without getting drunk. Based on this, Ge Hong speculated that cutting grains could make people resistant to toxins, and since they were resistant to toxins, they could also resist diseases. The method of cutting off grains was an essential approach for ancient people to practice the art of immortality. Because ancient people often ventured into remote and desolate mountains to pursue immortality, it was impossible for them to maintain a diet of grains for a long time. Moreover, through practice, they realized that cutting off grains was beneficial to health. Just as the Taoist scriptures state: "To achieve immortality, the intestines should be clear; to avoid death, there should be no excrement in the intestines." All these refer to cutting off grains. Ge Hong once visited many people who had been out of poverty for several years. Although these people who had been out of poverty for several years did not look obese, they were light, healthy and good-looking, and could resist the invasion of wind, cold, heat and dampness. According to their personal experience, in the early stage of the grain break, they all felt a lack of strength, but then they gradually became stronger, getting better month by month and year by year. Their physical condition improved, and their spirit, strength and color were all better than when they were eating grains. Of course, cutting off grains is just one of the ancient methods of health preservation, and it is often done simultaneously with taking medicine such as rehmannia glutinosa and Polygonatum odoratum. Especially, it is necessary to practice the art of breathing in and out, that is, taking breath, in order to achieve the expected health preservation effect. Ge Hong recorded such a story. In a certain place, due to a war, a family put their five-year-old girl in a cellar before fleeing, leaving enough food and water for three months. Due to the changing circumstances, the family couldn't return in time. It wasn't until three years later that they got home. They guessed that the little girl left in the cellar must have starved to death. So they planned to go to the cellar to collect the body. To their surprise, when they entered the cellar, they found that the girl was still alive and well. The family was very surprised and asked her how she had managed to get through these three years. The little girl said that after she finished her food, she was extremely hungry. By accident, she found a big turtle in the cellar breathing by pulling its neck. The little girl imitated the turtle to breathe, and gradually she no longer felt hungry. In fact, this legend is merely to illustrate the principle that cutting off the grain and subduing the breath should be carried out simultaneously. Human life is actually a continuous process of metabolism, so it always needs to constantly take in energy from the outside world. Generally, people mainly rely on a normal diet to obtain the energy necessary for life activities. How does the human body obtain energy when the normal diet is cut off? This seems to be an unsolved mystery. Even in modern times, there are still many people who do not eat grains all year round, only consuming water and a small amount of natural fruits such as dried jujubes and pine nuts. They still maintain a strong body and vigorous energy, which objectively shows that the ancient saying of "cutting off grains" is not a groundless rumor. Scientists from the former Soviet Union have discovered that humans can absorb over 100 grams of nitrogen through breathing every day and night. Under suitable conditions, this nitrogen can be synthesized into proteins necessary for human survival through the action of certain nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the intestinal wall, thus partially replacing the calories that humans rely on for food intake. However, the nitrogen-fixing microorganisms living on the human intestinal wall have relatively weak survival capabilities, and thus the vast majority of them lose the ability to absorb nitrogen from the air and convert it into protein in daily life. Regular consumption of fresh vegetables, fruits and wild fruits that have not undergone thermal processing is conducive to the reproduction of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the intestinal wall, thus enabling the nitrogen components in the air to be utilized by people. This research can be said to clarify the principle of "fasting for health preservation", and it can explain why fasting for health preservation needs to be carried out simultaneously with consuming certain herbs of plants, fruits and leaves, as well as practicing breathing exercises. One possible explanation is that the intestinal-cleaning effect caused by fasting and the consumption of certain plant fruit drugs help the survival and reproduction of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the intestinal wall, while breathing exercises can increase the amount of nitrogen taken in through breathing. These two factors enable fasting practitioners to obtain nutrients from the air and convert nitrogen in the air into proteins for the human body. This might be the secret behind why ancient practitioners of fasting for health preservation were able to do so for several years and remain physically stronger.