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Concept
Bigu (grain avoidance)
Summary
Bigu () is a Daoist fasting technique associated with achieving xian "transcendence; immortality". Grain avoidance is related to multifaceted Chinese cultural beliefs. For instance, bigu fasting was the common medical cure for expelling the sanshi 三尸 "Three Corpses", the malevolent, grain-eating spirits that live in the human body (along with the hun and po souls), report their host's sins to heaven every 60 days, and carry out punishments of sickness and early death. Avoiding "grains" has been diversely interpreted to mean not eating particular foodstuffs (food grain, cereal, the Five Grains, wugu, or staple food), or not eating any food (inedia). In the historical context of traditional Chinese culture within which the concept of bigu developed, there was great symbolic importance connected with the five grains and their importance in sustaining human life, exemplified in various myths and legends from ancient China and throughout subsequent history. The concept of bigu developed in reaction to this tradition, and within the context of Daoist philosophy.
The Chinese word bigu compounds bi "ruler; monarch; avoid; ward off; keep away" and gu or "cereal; grain; () millet". The bi 辟 meaning in bigu is a variant Chinese character for bi "avoid; shun; evade; keep away" (e.g., bixie 辟邪 or 避邪 "ward off evil spirits; talisman; amulet"). The alternate pronunciation of pi 辟 "open up; develop; refute; eliminate" is a variant character for . The complex 14-stroke traditional Chinese character gu 穀 "grain" has a 7-stroke simplified Chinese character gu 谷 "valley; gorge." Although a few Chinese dictionaries gloss the pronunciation of bigu 辟穀 as pigu, the definitive Hanyu Da Cidian (1997) gives bigu.
English lexicographic translations of bigu are compared in this table.
Catherine Despeux lists synonyms for bigu "abstention from cereals": duangu 斷穀 "stopping cereals" (with duan "cut off; sever; break; give up"), juegu 絕穀 "discontinuing cereals" (jue "cut off; sever; refuse; reject"), quegu 卻穀 "refraining from cereals" (que "retreat; decline; reject; refuse"), and xiuliang 修糧 "stopping grains" (with xiu "repair; trim; prune' cultivate" and liang "grain; food").
Official source
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