The text titled Quegu shiqi 卻穀食氣 (Eliminating Grain and Eating Qi) is found alongside the Daoyin Chart (Daoyin tu 導引圖) on the same silk manuscript, which was excavated in 1973 at Mawangdui Han tomb No. 3 near Changsha 長沙 in Hunan province, southern China. Its author is unknown; however, it is likely to have been composed during the late Warring States period (475–221 BCE). Originally untitled, it was named by the Mawangdui Han Tomb Silk Manuscript Compilation Group. The text discusses a specific dietary regimen that abstains from regular food and replaces it with both drugs and breath cultivation. The original text contains numerous lacunae.
却穀者食石韋，朔日食質，日賀(加)一節，旬五而止；旬六始匡，日□一節，至晦而復質，與月進退。為首重足輕體胗，則呴吹之，視利止。食穀者食質而□，食氣者為呴吹，則以始□與始興。凡呴中息而吹。年廿者朝廿暮廿，二日之暮二百；◎年卅者朝卅暮卅，三日之暮三百，以此數準之。
Those who eliminate grain eat shiwei (pyrrosia). On the first day of the month eat the base. Daily add one joint, stopping on the fifteenth day. On the sixteenth day begin to decrease. Daily [1] one joint, returning to the base on the last day of the month. Advance and retreat together with the moon. If the head becomes heavy, the feet become light, and the body has itchy swelling, practise xu exhalation and chui exhalation – stopping when the benefit is realised. Those who eat grain eat the base and [1]; those who eat vapor practice xu exhalation and chui exhalation when they first go to bed and first arise. Whenever doing xu exhalation, in mid-breath change to chui exhalation. A twenty-year-old does it twenty times at dawn, twenty times at dusk, and two hundred times every second day at dusk. A thirty-year-old does it thirty times at dawn, thirty times at dusk, and three hundred times every third day at dusk. Use this calculation to extrapolate.
春食一去濁陽，和以銧光、朝霞，昏清可。夏食一去湯風，和以朝霞、沆瀣，昏清可。秋食一去□□、霜霧，霜霧和以輸陽、銧，昏清可。冬食一去淩陰，和以端陽、銧光、輸陽、輸陰，昏清可。□□□□□者，□四塞，清風折首者也。霜霧者，□□□□□□□。濁陽者，黑四塞，天之亂氣也，及日出而霧也。湯風者，□風也，熱而中人者也，日□。淩陰者，入骨□□也，此五者不可食也。
For spring eating, eliminate entirely Turbid Yang; blend with Waning Light and Dawn Aurora. Dusk and dawn are allowed. For summer eating, eliminate entirely Scalding Wind; blend with Dawn Aurora and Drifting Flow. Dusk and dawn are allowed. For autumn eating, eliminate entirely [Cool Wind] and Frost Mist; blend with Resurgent Yang and Waning [Light]. Dusk and dawn are allowed. For winter eating, eliminate entirely Frozen Yin; blend with True Yang and Waning Light, Resurgent Yang, and Resurgent Yin. Dusk and dawn are allowed.
As for [Cool Wind], [1] permeates the four directions. Cool Wind (is a vapor) that snaps the head. Frost Mist [7]. As for Turbid Yang, black permeates the four directions. It is heaven’s chaotic vapor, and becomes mist when the sun rises. Scalding Wind is [1] wind. It is (a vapor) that is hot and strike people. {1}[1]. Frozen Yin enters the bones [2]. These five cannot be eaten.
朝霞者，□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□者，日出二幹，春為濁□□□□□雲如蓋，蔽□□□□者也。□□者，苑□□□□□□夏昏清風也。凡食□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□食穀者食方，食氣者食圓，圓者天也，方者地也。□□□者北向□□□□□□□□多食。□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□則和以正陽。夏氣霞□□□□□□□□□□□□□多陰，日夜分□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□□為青附，青附即多朝霞。朝◎佚氣為白附，白附即多銧光。昏失氣為黑附，黑附即多輸□。□□□□□□□□□食毋□。
Dawn Aurora [13]. As for [Resurgent Yang], when the sun ascends the height of two poles it becomes turbid [5] clouds are like a cover that veils [4] {2} [2] {2} [6] is the cool wind of summer dusk.
Whenever eating [19]. Those who eat grain eat what is square; those who eat vapor eat what is round. Round is heaven; square is earth. [3] {1} face north [8] eat a large amount. [21] then blend with True Yang. {3} [13] is mostly Yin. Day and night are divided [31] [is] the blue adjunct. The blue adjunct is mostly Dawn Aurora. The dispersed vapor of dawn is the white adjunct. The white adjunct is mostly Waning Light. The dispersed vapor of dusk is the black adjunct. The black adjunct is mostly Resurgent [10] {2} [?].
Translated by Donald Harper (1997: 305–309)
N.B. Words placed in brackets [ ] in the translation indicate either the transcription emendation is tentative or the translator (Donald Harper) introduces an emendation of his own. Lacunae are indicated in the translation with brackets as well. The enclosed Arabic numeral representing the estimated number of missing graphs; [?] means that the number is indeterminable. Whenever lacunae leave the translator perplexed as to the meaning of the graphs before or after, he indicates these graphs with braces { } enclosing the number of graphs involved.