The Path of Acting in Accordance with Heaven (From Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals) – A Monograph on Longevity
BY DONG ZHONGSHU (179 - 104 BCE)
TRANSLATED BY HEINER FRUEHAUF
Dong Zhongshu was a Han dynasty scholar with Confucian inclinations. His most important work, potentially a collaboration of different authors, is the Chunqiu fanlu (Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals). Written around the same time that the main classic of Chinese medicine (Huangdi neijing) was first edited into a coherent whole, it contains a variety of treatises on yin-yang cosmology and the five phase elements. In particular, it establishes the central importance of the earth element in Chinese philosophy, a concept that later took on pivotal importance in the development of Chinese medicine theory.