Bianhua

Bianhua meaning "transformation, metamorphosis" was a keyword in both Daoism and Chinese Buddhism. Daoists used bianhua describing things transforming from one type to another, such as from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Buddhist translators used bianhua for Sanskrit nirmāṇa "manifest through transformations", such as the nirmāṇa-kaya "transformation body" of a Buddha's reincarnations.

Bianhua
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese變化
Simplified Chinese变化
Literal meaningtransformation; metamorphosis
Korean name
Hangul변화
Japanese name
Kanji変化
Hiraganaへんか

Terminology

In Chinese linguistic morphology, biànhuà 變化 (lit. "change change") "change (esp. in form or character); variation; transformation; metamorphosis; reincarnation" is categorized as a "synonymic compound" whose parts are synonyms, e.g., jiannan 艱難 "difficult; hard" compounds jian 艱 "difficult; arduous" and nan 難 "difficult; troublesome" (Chao 1968:375).

For the Old Chinese etymologies, Axel Schuessler (2007: 166, 222) has bian 變 < *prans "to change" cognate with Tai plian "to change" and perhaps Written Tibetan sprul-ba or ˈpʰrul-ba "juggle; appear; change; transform"; and hua < hŋrôih 化 "to transform' change", e.g., from a fish into a bird; people through education; raw food through cooking", cognate with e < *ŋôi 吪 "to move; act; change", with possible Tibeto-Burman etymological links to Kinnauri skwal "to change" or Khaling kʰwaal "to shift; move". Walter Simon (1957) proposed the Sino-Tibetan etymological link between Chinese bian "change; transform" and Tibetan language sprul "juggle; perform tricks of illusion; change", and noted that the Chinese and Tibetan Buddhists chose these words to translate the Sanskrit technical vocabulary meaning "change; illusory transformation", such as, both sprul-sku and bianhuashen 變化身 translate nirmāṇa-kaya "transformation body".

In Modern Standard Chinese usage, biàn 變 or 变 means "change; become, change into; transform; perform (magic/etc.)"; and huà 化 means "change, transform, convert; melt; dissolve, thaw; digest, remove; burn up, incinerate; disguise; [religion] die, pass away" (DeFrancis 2003: 40, 374). Some common chengyu "four-character idioms" based upon bianhua are: biànhuàduōduān 變化多端 (with "many kinds") "changeable", biànhuàmòcè 變化莫測 (with "unmeasurable") "changeable; unpredictable", biànhuàwúcháng 變化無常 (with "changeable") "constantly changing; unending changes", and qiānbiànwànhuà 千變萬化 (with "1000" and "10,000") "ever-changing (esp. tides and fortunes)".

The modern Chinese character 變 for bian is classified as a radical-phonetic graph, combining the semantically significant "strike" radical 攴 or 攵 at the bottom with the phonetic indicator luan 䜌 (from 言 "words" between two 糸 "silk threads") at the top. Bian was first recorded on Zhou dynasty bronze script; "The meaning of the drawing is uncertain, but it contains two hanks of silk, and Xu Shen [in his ca. 100 CE Shuowen Jiezi] said that it meant 'to bring into order', as in spinning or reeling" (Mair 1989: 44). The modern character 化 for hua is classified as a compound-ideograph, combining the "person" radical 亻 or 人 on the left and "spoon" radical 匕 on the right. However, in earlier bronze script and oracle script forms of 化, the right side was originally a 人 "person" upside-down, depicting "a person who flips, changes" (Wenlin 2012).

Chinese has a rich lexicon of words meaning "change", including bian, hua, fan 反 "turn over; return; counter; oppose", huan 還 "go/come back; give back; return; repay", yi 易 "change" (as in the Yijing), and yi 移 "shift; adapt; modify; adjust"; and Joseph Needham (1956 : 74) notes, "the exact meaning of which are sometimes difficult to differentiate".

Semantically distinguishing between bian and hua is multifaceted. Compare these explanations.

The exact difference between [bian] and hua is perhaps more uncertain [than fan "reaction" and huan "return"]. In modern Chinese usage, [bian] tends to signify gradual change, transformation or metamorphosis; while hua tends to mean sudden and profound transmutation or alteration (as in a rapid chemical reaction)—but there is no very strict frontier between the words. [Bian] could be used of weather changes, insect metamorphosis, or slow personality transformations; hua may refer to the transition points in dissolving, liquefying, melting, etc., and to profound decay. [Bian] tends to be associated with form (xing) and hua with matter ([zhi]). When a snowman melts, the form changes ([bian]) as the snow melts (hua) to water. In the Sung dynasty, [Cheng Yi] explained bian as implying inward change with full or partial conservation of the external Gestalt or form, and hua as fundamental change in which the outward appearance is also altered. (Needham 1956: 74)

Hua 化 denotes a fundamental and essential change—a transformation. However, sometimes one also encounters the word [bian], denoting external, momentary, or apparent change. A locus classicus for this distinction is in the [Guanzi] ...: "The exemplary man ([shengren]) changes ([bian]) in accordance with the times without transforming [the essence of his being]" ... This in turn permits us to understand the passage in the [Huangdi neijing suwen] ...: "When the beings take rise (sheng 生 ...), this is called hua (transformation); when the beings have reached their full development [極] ... [and consequently have taken on a different appearance], this is called [bian] (change). (Porkert 1978: 44, quoted by Mair 1989: 44)

Bian has the sense of alteration among states of being (for example, from a yin to a yang state, or vice versa) or of variation within defined parameters. It differs from hua 化, "transformation", in implying alternation or variation rather than fundamental and lasting change. The change from a caterpillar to a butterfly, for example, which is both substantive and irreversible, is a frequently cited instance of hua in the earlier literature. By contrast, a change that involves the realignment of constituent parts in a dynamic system (and that may be or is regularly reversed), such as that from day to night and back again, would be considered an instance of bian. (Major et al. 2010: 871)

Wing-Tsit Chan (1952: 166) lists bianhua "transfiguration and transformation" as a basic Chinese philosophical concept. Bianhua has very diverse meanings, from basic "change and transformation" to "universal life" or "creation", even referring to the Daoist "science of metamorphosis" and generically "supernatural powers obtained by either magical practices or meditation exercises" (Robinet 1993: 153).

Early usages

The (c. 4th century) encyclopedic Guanzi text uses bianhua 5 times (3 in the Xinshu 心術 "Mind Techniques" chapters). Where the Xingshi 形勢 "Conditions and Circumstances" chapter says "The Way brings about the transformation of the self", the corresponding 形勢解 "Explanation" chapter elucidates (tr. Rickett 1998: 82) "The Way is the means by which the self is transformed so a person will adhere to correct principles."

The ancient Yijing or Book of Changes has 12 usages of bianhua describing the manifestation of everything in heaven and on earth. All occur in the (c. 3rd century BCE) Ten Wings commentaries, and none in the (c. 7th century BCE) core hexagram and line statements.

For hexagram 1 Qian 乾 "The Creative", the Commentary on the Decision (彖傳傳) says:

  • The way of the Creative works through change and transformation, so that each thing receives its true nature and destiny and comes into permanent accord with the Great Harmony; this is what furthers and what perseveres. (tr. Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 371).

Kong Yingda's sub-commentary (from Nielsen 2013: 115) distinguishes bian and hua: "'Alternation' refers to afterwards changing from a former state, it has gradually changed. This is called 'alteration'. 'Transformation' refers to existence in one moment and absence of existence in the next, it has suddenly changed. This is called 'transformation'."

Bianhua occurs most often (8 times) in the Appended Judgments Commentary (繫辭傳) or Great Commentary (大傳). Three contexts mention the work of divine sages.

  • The holy sages were able to survey all the confused diversities under heaven. They observed forms and phenomena and made representations of things and their attributes [which became the basis for the Yijing]... Through observation and discussion they [the holy sages] perfected the changes and seasons. (tr. Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 304)
  • The Master [presumably Confucius] said: Whoever knows the tao of the changes and transformations, knows the action of the gods". (tr. Wilhelm & Baynes 1967: 313)
  • Heaven creates divine things; the holy sage takes them as models. Heaven and earth change and transform; the holy sage imitates them. (tr. Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 320)

In written Japanese, 変化 can be pronounced henka "change (state)" (in Kan-on reading) or the Buddhist henge 変化 "incarnation" (Go-on reading). The Nihon Kokugo Daijiten (2001) notes both pronunciations were first recorded during the Nara period; henge 変化 "A god, Buddha, spirit, etc. that temporarily appearing in human form, or such a thing. Avatar. Reincarnation" (神仏, 天人などが仮に人間の姿になって現われること. また, そのもの. 神仏の化身 (けしん). 権化 (ごんげ).; c. 810-824 Nihon Ryōiki); and henka 変化 "A change from one nature, state, etc. to another, or, such changeability" (ある性質, 状態などが他の性質や状態に変わること, または, 変えること.; 827 Keikokushū).

Daoist usages

The Daoist idea of bianhua (metamorphosis, or "change and transformation"), "that the certainty that the world is in flux leaves open the possibility that things may transform from one type to another" (Csikszentmihalyi 2008: 229), can be traced from the Zhuangzi through the Shangqing School.

The (c. 3rd century BCE) Zhuangzi was the first Daoist text to explain bianhua "transformation and metamorphosis". The word occurs five times (all in the Outer Chapters), referring to the ability of things to change from one category to another. For instance,

Spring and summer precede, autumn and winter come after—such is the sequence of the four seasons. The myriad things evolve and develop; even twisted little shoots have their own special shapes—such are the gradations of fullness and decline, the flow of transformation and evolution [bianhua]. (13, tr. Mair 1994: 123)

The Zhuangzi text begins with a parable about interspecific metamorphosis.

In the darkness of the Northern Ocean, there is a fish named K'un. The K'un is so big that no one knows how many thousands of tricents [three hundred paces] its body extends. After it metamorphoses [hua] into a bird, its name becomes P'eng. The P'eng is so huge that no one knows how many thousands of tricents its back stretches. Rousing itself to flight, its wings are like clouds suspended in the sky. (1, tr. Mair 1994: 3)

The Zhuangzi uses the closely related word wuhua 物化 "transformation of things" ten times, most famously in the story of Zhuangzi dreaming he was a butterfly.

Once upon a time Chuang Chou dreamed that he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting about happily enjoying himself. He didn't know that he was Chou. Suddenly he awoke and was palpably Chou. He did not know whether he was Chou who had dreamed of being a butterfly or a butterfly dreaming that he was Chou. Now, there must be a difference between Chou and the butterfly. This is called the transformation of things. (2, tr. Mair 1994: 24)

A Zhuangzi passage explains change in the sense of evolutionary continuity.

In seeds there are germs [幾]. When they are found in water they become filaments. When they are found at the border of water and land they become algae. When they germinate in elevated places they become plantain. When the plantain is found in fertile soil it becomes crow's foot. The crow's foot's roots become scarab grubs and its leaves become butterflies. The butterflies soon evolve into insects that are born beneath the stove. They have the appearance of exuviae and are called "house crickets:" After a thousand days the house crickets become birds called "dried surplus bones." The spittle of the dried surplus bones becomes a misty spray and the misty spray becomes mother of vinegar. Midges are born from mother of vinegar; yellow whirligigs are born from fetid wine; blindgnats are born from putrid slimebugs. When goat's-queue couples with bamboo that has not shooted for a long time, they produce greenies. The greenies produce panthers; panthers produce horses; horses produce men; and men return to enter the wellsprings of nature [機]. The myriad things all come out from the wellsprings and all reenter the wellsprings. (18, tr. Mair 1994: 172-173)

Liu An's (c. 139 BCE) Huainanzi uses bianhua 17 times. For instance, this hunchback story about Ziqiu 子求 "Master Seek", adapted from the Zhuangzi (6, tr. Mair 1994:58) description of Ziyu 子輿 "Master Chariot".

Ziqiu had lived for fifty-four years when an injury made him hunchbacked. The arch of his spine was higher than his forehead; his chin pressed down on his chest; his two buttocks were on top; his rectum pointed to the sky. He crawled over to peer at himself in a well: "Amazing! That which fashions and transforms us! How has it turned me into this crumpled thing?" This shows that from his viewpoint, alterations and transformation [bianhua] are the same. (7, tr. Major et al. 2010: 252)

The Huainanzi describes transformations in nature (tr. Major et al. 2010: 399): "Now the frog becomes a quail, [and] the water scorpion becomes the dragonfly. These give rise to what is not their own kind. Only the sage understands their transformations." To know the bianhua of things is the hallmark of spiritual knowledge (Robinet 1993: 155).

While the Daodejing text does not use bianhua, its (c. 2nd century CE) commentary attributed to Heshang Gong 河上公 (lit. "Riverbank Elder") uses the word twice, explaining the transformations of dragons and spirits. The text and commentary for Section 26 (重德) says:

Gravity is the root of lightness.
If a prince is not grave, then he is not honoured. If asceticism is not taken seriously, then the spirits are lost. The blossoms and leaves of the herbs and trees are light, therefore they are perishable. The root is heavy, therefore it is lasting.
Quietness is the master of motion.
If a prince is not quiet, then he loses his dignity. If the ascetic is not quiet, then he endangers himself. The dragon is quiet, therefore he is able to transform [bianhua]. The tiger is restless, therefore he strives for heavenly faults. (tr. Erkes 1945: 170-171)

Section 39 (法本) says:

The spirits acquired unity. Thereby they are magic-endowed.
This means: The spirits acquired unity. Thereby they are able to change [bianhua] and to become formless.
The valley-streams acquired unity. Thereby they are filled out.
This means: The valley-streams acquired unity. Therefore they may be filled without ceasing to exist. (tr. Erkes 1945: 190)

The (c. 2nd century CE) Laozi bianhua jing 老子變化經 "Scripture of the Transformations of Laozi", which is preserved in a fragmentary (612 CE) Dunhuang manuscript discovered in the Mogao Caves, uses bianhua to describe the many historical reincarnations of Laozi 老子, deified as Laojun 老君 "Lord Lao". This text (tr. Robinet 1993: 157) says Laozi "can make himself bright or dark, disappear and then be present, enlarge or diminish himself, coil up or extend himself, put himself above or below, can be vertical or horizontal, (and) can go forward or backward." In every generation, this Master of Emperors cosmically "transforms his own body" in order to teach humanity, through the incarnate power of the Dao, he assumes numerous identities, and leaves behind adapted writings with his teaching (Kohn 2008: 617). The transformations of Laojun began with the first mythical ruler Fu Xi, included Gautama Buddha, the Yellow Emperor's teacher Guangzhengzi 廣成子 "Master Broadly Complete" (mentioned in the Zhuangzi), and ended with a 155 CE manifestation in the Sichuan region.

Mark Csikszentmihalyi distinguishes between early Daoist discussions that tended to emphasize the way in which bianhua applies to human beings in the same way it does to the natural world (Sivin 1991), and later Daoism that stressed the potential for the adept to harness bianhua, particularly in the eschatological picture of the Shangqing tradition.

Like Laozi, the diverse spirits of the Shangqing tradition are able to transform themselves, and the adept had to be able to identify their different manifestations. Adepts, in turn, might use bianhua to transform themselves. The Shangqing text Shenzhou qizhuan qibian wutian jing 神州七轉七變舞天經 (Scripture of the Divine Continent on the Dance in Heaven in Seven Revolutions and Seven Transformations; CT 1331) describes methods for transforming into clouds, light, fire; water, and dragons. (2008: 229-230)

Isabelle Robinet (2000: 219) notes that "the powers of metamorphosis had always been a key characteristic of the immortals, but these powers came to be even more central in Shangqing where they were synonymous with deliverance and salvation."

Bianhua was employed by both Daoist mystics and Fangshi magicians. The Daoist adept practices metamorphosis both internally through meditation on colored breaths and gods within the body, and externally using magic to change the appearances of things (Robinet 1979: 43-46). Ge Hong's (c. 320 CE) Baopuzi explains these extraordinary powers of Daoists. Describing the multilocation technique called fenxing "divide/multiply the body", Ge Hong says his uncle Ge Xuan could be in several dozen places at once (18, tr. Ware 1966: 306): "When guests were present there could be one host speaking with the guests in the house, another host greeting guests beside the stream, and still another host making casts with his fishing line, but the guests were unable to distinguish which was the true one." Yinxing 隱形 "invisibility" is another manifestation of bianhua. The Baopuzi (16, tr. Ware 1966: 262-263) says: "What is it that the arts of transformation cannot do? May I remind my readers that the human body, which is normally visible, can be made to disappear. Ghosts and gods are normally invisible, but there are ways and means to make them visible. Those capable of operating these methods and prescriptions will be found to abound wherever you go."

Several centuries after Chinese Buddhists borrowed the Daoist meaning of bianhua or hua "manifest through transformation; incarnate", early Tang dynasty Daoists elaborated the Buddhist doctrine about a Buddha's "three bodies" (see below) into a theory that the True Body of the Dao, the Supreme Truth, assumes different metaphoric "bodies" in order to manifest as specific deities, including those in the Laozi bianhuajing. The (late 8th century) Daoist Sanlun yuanzhi 三論元旨 (tr. Robinet 1993: 157) explains that: "The saint responds to all things, but his essence is distinct from them. Therefore, since his transcendent root is immobile, he is called the "true body" [zhenshen 真身] and since he propagates the form of the Law, he is called the "responsive body" [yingshen 應身]. This text further contrasts the True Body with the "transformation body" [huashen 化身 or bianhuashen, used for nirmāṇa-kāya] and the "trace body" [jishen 跡身], in the sense that all teachings are traces of Truth (Robinet 1979: 42).

Buddhist usages

Early Buddhist translators chose Chinese bianhua 變化 as the equivalent for Sanskrit nirmāṇa "transformation; supernatural manifestation; reincarnation".

Charles Muller's Digital Dictionary of Buddhism (2014) defines bianhua as basically meaning "transformation of things", and distinguishes four senses:

  1. (Skt. nirmāṇa) The transformation of myriad forms in manifesting appearances, especially the mutation of buddhas and bodhisattvas, e.g. 變化人 becoming men; also 變化土 the land where they dwell, whether the Pure Land or any impure world where they live for its enlightenment.
  2. To transform, change, change into, become. To manifest through supernormal power.
  3. The mind that discriminates all objects as having inherent existence (sixth and seventh consciousnesses).
  4. The third of the four kinds of reality-bodies of the Buddha, according to Yogâcāra.

Monier Monier-Williams's Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899) translates nirmāṇa निर्माण as "measuring, measure, reach, extent", "forming, making, creating", "(Buddhist literature) transformation", "essence, essential/best part of anything" (sāra), and "unconformity, impropriety, unbecomingness" (asamañjasa).

The common Buddhist term bianhuashen 變化身 or huashen 化身 (translating nirmāṇakāya) "transformation-body; manifested-body" refers to one of the sanshen 三身 (trikāya) "three bodies [of a buddha]" doctrine, along with the fashen 法身 (dharmakāya) "dharma-body; truth-body", and baoshen 報身 (saṃbhogakāya) "reward-body; bliss-body". Contexts describing Buddhas manifesting as animals and humans use the related terms bianhuaren 變化人 (nirmita) "magically manifested human body", bianhuatu 變化土 (nirmāṇa-kṣetra) "transformation land where the inhabitants reincarnate", and *bianhuasheng 變化生 (upapāduka) "birth by transformation; miraculous materialization".

Besides bianhua 變化, Buddhist translators used other Chinese bian compounds for Sanskrit words dealing with supernatural manifestations (Mair 1989: 68). This semantic complex includes bianxian 變現 (with "appearance") translating both vikurvaṇa "manifestation through transformation" and prātihārya "miraculous", and shenbian 神變 (with "god; divine") translating prātihārya "supernatural/miraculous powers; magical feats" and vikurvana "manifestation; transformation".

Victor Mair (1989: 43-45) traced the historical semantics of Chinese bian before and after the (c. 2nd-3rd century) introduction of Buddhism, when it started being used as to translate Sanskrit nirmāṇa meaning "discontinuity or break with reality (illusion)". The pre-Buddhist concept of Chinese bian referred to "change (from one state to another)", through which one thing becomes another thing. The post-Buddhist concept extended bian to mean "strange" in the sense of "transformation from nothing to something; magically creative power to conjure". The early "strange incident; supernatural transformation" sense of bian became popular during the early Tang dynasty period, for instance, the (c. 668) Fayuan Zhulin "Pearl Grove in the Garden of the Dharma" used bianhua "[miraculous] transformation" to describe strange incidents.

Later usages

The Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi's interpretations of the Chinese classics, which scholars and officials from the 12th to 19th centuries considered to be canonical, differentiated between two types of "change": sudden, transformational bian and gradual, evolutionary hua.

For instance, Zhu explained an ambiguous Yijing statement within the Xici zhuan 繫辭傳 "Commentary on the Appended Phrases" (tr. Wilhelm and Baynes 1967: 323), "That which transforms things and fits them together is called change [化而裁之謂之變]; that which stimulates them and sets them in motion is called continuity", with a lunar analogy (tr. Kim 2000: 128): "[The progression] from the first day to the thirtieth day [of a lunar month] is hua (transformation). Having reached this thirtieth day, concluded and made one month, the next day belongs to the next month. This is pien (change)." This "change" distinction also applied to lines in the Yijing hexagrams, which are either unbroken, solid Yang lines or broken, open Yin ones: "Pien is from a yin [line] to a yang [line]. [It] changes suddenly. Therefore, it is called "change" (pien). [The change] from yin to yang naturally grows to become sudden. This is called change. From yang to yin, it gradually goes on vanishing and wearing out."

Zhu Xi used the bian/hua distinction to explain a difficult passage in the Doctrine of the Mean (tr. Kim 2000: 129) – "When moved, it is change; when changed, it is transformed [動則變，變則化]" – "When changed, its old conventions have already been altered, but there still are traces. When transformed, they have completely vanished and transformed, and there are no longer any traces."

Bianhua continues to be a linguistically productive word, as evident in Chinese technical neoloigisms like bianhuali "paradigm", bianhuaqiu 變化球 "breaking ball", bianhuayu 變化語 "inflective language", and bianhuamangshi 變化盲視 "change blindness".

gollark: I made this cool holographic bouncy ball.
gollark: We have some countermeasures, but it's been observed using polymorphic bytecode generation, [DATA EXPUNGED] in Lua's string libraries, and in one case █████████ ██████ ██████ █████████ █████████, █████ █████ ██ ████ ████.
gollark: It is not installed randomly, but can ████████████ █████ ████████ ███████ using [REDACTED] previously unknown exploits.
gollark: No. It is very dangerous and MUST NOT be interacted with.
gollark: ÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆÆ

See also

References
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