"Bigu", also known as Quegu, Qugu, Juegu, Juegu, Jiegu and Jiegu, originated from Fang Xian's "not eating whole grains", that is, instead of eating whole grains, he filled his stomach with drugs, food and other things, or stopped eating for a certain period of time, which was a common way of health preservation in ancient times. It means not to eat whole grains. A practice of Taoism. You still have to take medicine when you cross the valley, and you must do some guidance and so on.
Pigu, often associated with persuasion, is called convincing to Pigu. Being convinced, as the name implies, is to take qi. After being influenced by Taoist thought, it is called taking essence or taking qi. This is the practice of replacing food with qi, and the method of breaking the valley with conviction is always emphasized by Taoism. Since the Han Dynasty, there has been a legend that Taoist priests were persuaded to break the valley, and there were also many imitators in previous dynasties.
The origin of the valley:
There is a legend of "people who eat gas" in Shan Hai Jing, and later there is a saying that "people who eat gas live as immortals". A similar concept was transformed by Zhuangzi into the work of a divine man, and "A Happy Tour in Zhuangzi" contained: "The mountain that takes advantage of the situation has immortals living there." If the skin is like ice and snow, if you are a virgin, you will not eat grains, suck the wind and drink dew, ride a dragon in the clouds, and travel around the world. "Dare not shoot the man of god, don't need food such as grain, just need to eat and drink.
Begging for grain originated in the pre-Qin period, and it was about the same time as qi-moving. In a etiquette treatise before Qin and Han Dynasties, The Core Monument of Yi Life said: "Carnivores are brave, food eaters are wise, gas eaters live with God, and non-food eaters live with God", which is the earliest theoretical basis for gas eating. There is a similar record in Huainanzi Terrain Training.
During the period of 1973, two qigong cultural relics that attracted worldwide attention were unearthed from the Han Tomb No.3 in Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan Province: the guide map and the chapter "Eating Qi in the Valley". The former is a colorful silk painting with various guiding postures; The latter is a silk book that records the specific method of eating qi to avoid the valley, and it is the first monograph on the therapy of avoiding the valley in China. According to textual research, the silk book was written in the early Han Dynasty, about the period of Hui Di (206- 188 BC). The details may be an ancient anecdote handed down from the pre-Qin period.