Mawangdui (simplified Chinese: 马王堆; traditional Chinese: 馬王堆; pinyin: Mǎwángduī; lit. 'King Ma's Mound') is an archaeological site located in Changsha, China. The site consists of two saddle-shaped hills and contained the tombs of three people from the Changsha Kingdom during the western Han dynasty (206 BC – 9 AD): the Chancellor Li Cang, his wife Xin Zhui, and a male believed to have been their son. The site was excavated from 1972 to 1974. Most of the artifacts from Mawangdui are displayed at the Hunan Provincial Museum. It was called "King Ma's Mound" possibly because it was (erroneously) thought to be the tomb of Ma Yin (853–930), a ruler of the Chu kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The original name might have been the similarly-sounding "saddle-shaped mound" (馬鞍堆; mǎ ān duī).
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👉 Mawangdui in the context of Mawangdui Silk Texts
The Mawangdui Silk Texts (traditional Chinese: 馬王堆帛書; simplified Chinese: 马王堆帛书; pinyin: Mǎwángduī Bóshū) are Chinese philosophical and medical works written on silk which were discovered at the Mawangdui site in Changsha, Hunan, in 1973. They include some of the earliest attested manuscripts of existing texts (such as the I Ching), two copies of the Tao Te Ching, a copy of Zhan Guo Ce, works by Gan De and Shi Shen, and previously unknown medical texts such as Wushi'er Bingfang (Prescriptions for Fifty-Two Ailments). Scholars arranged them into 28 types of silk books. Their approximately 120,000 words cover military strategy, mathematics, cartography, and the six classical arts: ritual, music, archery, horsemanship, writing, and arithmetic.
Mawangdui in the context of Daoyin
Daoyin is a series of cognitive body and mind unity exercises practiced as a form of Daoist neigong, meditation and mindfulness to cultivate jing (essence) and direct and refine qi, the internal energy of the body according to traditional Chinese medicine. These exercises are often divided into yin positions (lying and sitting) and yang positions (standing and moving). The practice of daoyin was a precursor of qigong, and blended with the introduction of Indian yoga into China with the spread of Buddhism and was practised in Chinese Taoist monasteries for health and spiritual cultivation. Daoyin is also said to be a primary formative ingredient in the yin aspects of Chinese martial arts including the well-known "soft styles" of the Chinese martial arts, of tai chi, and middle road styles like Wuxingheqidao.
The main goal of daoyin is to create flexibility of the mind, thereby creating harmony between internal and external environments, which relaxes, replenishes and rejuvenates the body, developing in its practitioners a vital and healthy spirit.