Potential identification of an entheogenic plant species on the Chu Silk Manuscript

The Chu Silk Manuscript, the earliest known Chinese illustrated manuscript from around 300 BCE, depicts plants on its four corners, long considered mythical trees. This analysis suggests that some of these plants closely resemble Caesalpinia decapetala (Yun-Shih), a hallucinogenic plant with recorded shamanic power in the first known Chinese herbal, the Pen-ts’ao Ching, compiled from oral sources near the beginning of the common era. The plant's geographic distribution, shape, and documented shamanic use support its possible depiction on the manuscript, potentially identifying substances used as trance-facilitating drugs in shamanic rituals of the Chu state era and earlier.

Study at a glance

Abstract

ABSTRACT The ‘Chu Silk Manuscript’, or ‘Zidanku Silk Manuscript 1ʹ, estimated to date back to 300 BCE, and considered to be the earliest known Chinese manuscript containing illustrations, features the depiction of plants on its four corners. Although there is an academic consensus in considering these plants as ‘mythical trees’, my study suggests that some of the plants depicted present puzzling similarities with Caesalpinia decapetala, or Yun-Shih, an hallucinogenic plant known for its recorded ‘shamanic power’ in the first known Chinese herbal 神農本草經 Pen-ts’ao Ching, which is estimated to have been compiled from oral sources around the beginning of our common era. Here I show that the geographic distribution of the plant, its shape and the recorded relation of its use to shamanism tend to reinforce the possibility of its presence on the Chu Silk Manuscript; therefore potentially helping to identify substances used as trance–facilitating drugs during shamanic rituals dating back to the Chu state era and before.