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Articles
Zhengyuan Gao	A Systematic Model of Dao’s Temporality
Konstantinos G. Polymeros	Perception of Evil in the Daode jing
Desislava Damyanova	Archetypes of Death in Ancient China
Erik Hoogcarspel	When Flesh Becomes Meat
Irina-Mihaela Ivașcu	The Magical Power of Music: The Chinese Lute and the Music of Spheres as Symbols of Cosmic Harmony
Shuen-fu Lin	New Ways of Cultivating the Matter-Energy in the Human Body
Forum
Șerban Toader	Inner Alchemy in Fourteen Ideograms
Baolin Wu & Michael McBride	The Daoist Immortal Ma Danyang and the Secrets of the Twelve Heavenly Star Points
Cristina Zaccarini	Daoism, Emotions, and Communication in the College Classroom
Qing Yun	Awakening through Dao Cultivation: Master Zhenyi’s Vision of REBIRTH
Baolin Wu & Paulina Wierzbicka	Daoist Dietary Principles: The Science of Fasting
Debra Liu	Into the Mountains: Exploring China’s Sacred Daoist Peaks
Ioana Clara Enescu	Dark Daoism and Plant Humanities: An Intersection
Sivia Mioc	Chinese Metaphysics for Protection and Resilience: Harmonizing Heaven, Humanity, and Earth

Zhengyuan Gao – A Systematic Model of Dao’s Temporality

This paper offers a systematic perspective on Dao’s temporality by examining two distinct structures: a dynamic, enduring aspect and a static, eternal one. Employing a narrative model, I analyze these structures through three interconnected concepts: the eternal Dao, the enduring Dao, and mediating quality. This model resolves the apparent tension between Dao’s eternal nature and its capacity to generate a changing universe. I argue that the enduring Dao, while grounded in the eternal Dao, is crucial for understanding Dao’s dynamic engagement with time, contingency, and the emergence of harmony from chaos.

Konstantinos G. Polymeros – Perception of Evil in the Daode jing

This article serves to reconstruct the perception of evil through an examination of relevant vocabulary in the Daode jing. It shows that the work deliberately uses ambiguity and polysemy, its images of evil ranging between aesthetics and ethics. The manifestations of evil are classified in three categories: material world, human society and spirit realm.

Desislava Damyanova – Archetypes of Death in Ancient China

This paper explores the Chinese attitudes toward death, dying, and posthumous transformation in East-Asian cultural, religious, and philosophical traditions. The study begins with looking at important tenets of common religious views and the transformation of the Western archetype after its encounter with the East. In comprehending death, we uncover the meaning of the finitude of human existence and the limits of philosophy and science. Next, it examines traditional Chinese funeral ceremonies as they closely relate to ancestor worship, to mythical beings in the Daoist pantheon, and other deities in Chinese folklore. The paper also explores the social functions of the East Asian attitudes and shamanic views regarding the dying process and the afterlife. Daoist archetypes of death combine internal and external alchemy and the belief in immortals. The core of the study compares the Confucian creative self-transformation toward sagehood with the equality of life and death in the Zhuangzi.

Erik Hoogcarspel – When Flesh Becomes Meat

This paper examines the dialectics between the living human body and the objective world of things, mainly in relation to the execution method of death by a thousand cuts, but also in relation to the practice of writing with ones own blood and using ones own flesh as a medicine for others. I call those three practices “transgressions” and investigate their symbolic meaning. I will show how these transgressions play a part in the Chinese symbolic institution, in other words in the cosmic order, often called the dào. I will show how in the Zhuangzi a different kind of dào is presented. Finally I will put these practices into perspective by describing a symbolic kind of self-execution that is practiced in Tibetan Buddhism. In a modified version it is recently also practiced in the context of psychotherapy and counseling. My claim is that this helps us understand the dào of Zhuangzi as the foundation of human existence.

Irina-Mihaela Ivașcu – The Magical Power of Music: The Chinese Lute and the Music of Spheres as Symbols of Cosmic Harmony

This paper explores the symbolic and practical role of the lute (qín 琴) in Chinese self-cultivation traditions, emphasizing its function as a medium for spiritual and moral refinement. Drawing on Han period texts such as the Huáinánzǐ 淮南子and Qíncāo 琴操, the lute is portrayed as an instrument for returning (fǎn 反, guī 歸) to authentic nature and heavenly virtue, restraining licentiousness, and harmonizing one’s essential nature. Etymological analysis links the lute with the concept of restriction (jìn 禁), reinforcing its role in regulating desires and purifying the mind. Playing the lute is thus both a ritualized practice and a form of meditation, integrating Daoist and Buddhist influences aimed at cultivating vital breath (qì 氣) and extending longevity. The paper also draws parallels with ancient Greek philosophy, particularly the concept of the “music of the spheres” and the myth of Orpheus, highlighting a shared ideal of music as a cosmic and moral harmonizer. In Greek thought, music serves to align the soul with cosmic order and ethical virtue, much like the Chinese lute’s role in harmonizing body, mind, and spirit. The myth of Orpheus exemplifies music’s power to transcend human limitations and restore harmony between humanity and nature. Both traditions emphasize the disciplined, ritualized nature of musical practice, involving precise bodily postures, mental focus, and purified environments, reflecting a universal understanding of music as a transformative, self-cultivating art that connects the individual to a higher, natural or divine order.

Shuen-fu Lin – The Simple and Easy Taijiquan: New Ways of Cultivating the Matter-Energy in the Human Body

It is well known that Zheng Manqing 郑曼青 (1902-1975) was the first person who reduced the 128-posture Taijiquan he had learned from Yang Chengfu 杨澄甫 (1883-1936) down to 37 postures. He called this shortened form “Jianyi taijiquan 简易太极拳” or the “Simple and Easy Taijiquan.” This paper is intended to discuss the theoretical foundations of Zheng’s Taijiquan as a form of exercise for health and self-defense. My purpose is accomplished through a close reading of the relevant key points in the “Commentary on the Appended Statements” of the Yijing (Yijing xicizhuan 易经系辞传 ), traditionaly attributed to Confucius, 551-479 BCE, from which Zheng derived the idea of “simple and easy,” his brilliant “Song of Substance and Function” (Tiyong ge 体用歌) and Master Zheng‘s Thirteen Treatises on Taijiquan (Zhengzi taijiquan shisan pian 郑子太极拳十三篇), the Daoist philosophical classic Daode jing, and several important texts in the Daoist occult tradition of alchemy. Central to Zheng’s theory is the cultivation of matter-energy (qi ) in the human body that can enhance both the physical health and the self-defense skills of a practitioner.

For a complete list of articles and essays in JDS, please see here