Author: Livia Kohn

The Zhong-Lü System of Internal Alchemy

This exciting new work translates two 12^th-century texts associated with the legendary immortals Zhongli Quan and Lü Dongbin, founders of the Zhong Lü tradition of internal alchemy. First, the Zhong-Lü chuandao ji, in dialogue format, outlines the cosmological parameters of the practice, then describes various methods of attainment. Second, the Lingbao bifa, assembling various revealed sources and commentaries, presents similar concepts and adds more specific practices. In addition to the translations, The Zhong-Lü System provides a discussion in five chapters: Historical Unfolding, The Workings of the Universe, The Human Condition, Stages and Processes, and Key Practices. It makes both the underlying cosmology and the practical transformation accessible and understandable in plain, straightforward language. Beyond providing an in-depth understanding for modern practitioners, the work is essential for anyone concerned with Daoist history, cosmology, and internal alchemy.

Author: Livia Kohn2020270 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-44-5Cite

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Chen Tuan: Discussions and Translations

This book contains three essays and five translations on the Song Daoist saint and immortal Chen Tuan. It is based on the author’s dissertation (Leben und Legende des Chen Tuan, 1981), which focused on questions of legend development and the problem of what “immortality” meant as a religious ideal in the Song dynasty. Later she supplemented this work with materials on Chen Tuan as a physiognomist published in two articles and by editing a volume for Taoist Resources (1989). The collection includes all these and some additional materials.

Author: Livia Kohn2001160 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-64-3Cite

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Declarations of the Perfected Part Two: Instructions on Shaping Destiny

Declarations of the Perfected is the first complete, annotated translation of Zhen’gao, Tao Hongjing’s (456-536) masterful compilation of the Shangqing or Higher Clarity revelations, setting the stage for the heyday of medieval Daoism. The present volume presents the Declarations’ second part (fasc. 5-8), which focuses on the various difficulties that Daoist practitioners are likely to encounter in a dangerous world, and how to overcome them. It begins with instructions of a more general nature, before moving on to problems faced specifically by Xu Mi (303-376) and his family and fellow officials. This volume also sheds much light on the history of its time—the kinds of moral and philosophical issues that were being debated, as well political intrigues in the Eastern Jin court.

Author: Thomas E. Smith2020350 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-82-7Cite

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Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality

Internal alchemy has been the dominant system of Daoist spiritual practice since the Song dynasty. Its practitioners transform body energies into subtle levels of spirit, hoping to find illumination by returning to the fundamental order of the cosmos and in the process reconcile physiological training with intellectual speculation. Bringing together the best work of leading scholars in the field, this book provides a thorough and easily accessible introduction to this important tradition. It describes the cultivation methods at the root of internal alchemy, presents its historical development and key concepts, and explores comparative dimensions, such as Kundalini Yoga and Hermeticism.

Author: Livia Kohn and Robin R. Wang, eds.2009250 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-08-7Cite

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The Way of Highest Clarity: Nature, Vision, and Revelation in Medieval Daoism

Highest Clarity (Shangqing) was a Daoist religious movement that flourished for a thousand years in medieval China. This book explores its chief religious ideas and practices through three key texts, translated into English for the first time. Together with introductory essays on the concepts of nature, vision, and revelation, the book provides an overview of a unique and fascinating religious imagination, of interest to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of humanity’s cultural heritage. It is a prime study of a major Daoist school, offering path-breaking research of this little-known aspect of medieval Chinese culture

Author: James Miller2008245 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-09-4Cite

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Divine Traces of the Daoist Sisterhood

This book presents unique materials on the lives and religious quests of Daoist women in medieval China. Based on Du Guangting’s (850-933) extensive record of Daoist women’s biographies, covering the entire scope of medieval Chinese society and ranging from the 3^rd to the 9^th centuries, the book explores the social context, ideals, and specific techniques of their practice. It also relates the stories to overall Daoist themes and contemporaneous political events, carefully analyzing both the spiritual and lifestyle choices women made in ancient China. A well-crafted work and unique in its scholarly solidity and breadth of insights, Divine Traces is a classic in the field

Author: Suzanne Cahill2006225 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-04-9Cite

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Living with the Dao: Conceptual Issues in Daoist Practice

In medieval Daoist practice as much as today, the alignment of the body and the harmonization of qi bring about the transformation of the emotions and the unfold-ing of spirit. In addition, progress along the path also requires the rethinking and reformu-lating of basic ideas about self, world, and universe, the adjustment of the mind and one’s sense of identity to the flow of Dao. Illuminating this facet, this collection of thirteen essays covers issues of mind and body, self and personality, good and evil, qigong and ritual, as well as prolongevity and ecology.

Author: Livia Kohn2002245 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-63-6Cite

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Laughing at the Dao: Debates among Buddhists and Daoists in Medieval China

The Xiaodao lun (Laughing at the Dao) is a key document of medieval debates among Buddhists and Daoists. Written by the Daoist renegade Zhen Luan in 570, it aims to expose inconsistencies in Daoist doctrine, cosmology, ritual, and religious practice. This complete and fully annotated translation places the work in the context of the debates and exposes the political schemes behind apparently religious disputes. The introduction outlines the history of the debates while two appendixes present materials of earlier and later debates and Daoist sources cited in the text. Richly informed and highly relevant to an understanding of medieval China, the work enhances the study of medieval Buddhist and Daoist myth, rhetoric, and ideology.

Author: Livia Kohn2008280 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-07-0Cite

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Daoism Excavated: Cosmos and Humanity in Early Manuscripts

Daoism Excavated is a first detailed exploration of Daoist cosmology, philosophy, and political vision as found in recently unearthed bamboo slips and silk manuscripts. Presenting a detailed, and often carefully philological, examination ofthe Taiyi shengshui, Hengxian,Fanwu liuxing, and Huangdi sijing, as well as of various versions of the Laozi, the book provides new insights into ancient Daoist thought and its various schools and lineages. It focuses particularly on different visions of the creation and unfolding of the universe and on the application of these alternative cosmologies in political thought and practice. Revising and expanding our understanding of traditional Chinese thinking, the book makes an essential contribution to Chinese studies, philosophy, and religion.

Author: Zhongjiang Wang2015230 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-62-9Cite

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Zhuangzi: Text and Context

Zhuangzi: Text and Context is a comprehensive discussion of the ancient Daoist work Zhuangzi in 24 chapters, providing a chronologically-based outline of the context of the work, from the compilation of the text to its reading in 21^st century ecology, plus a systematic discussion and interpretation of its central concepts from perfect happiness to playful uselessness. The book integrates a vast spectrum of original and secondary sources, examines the history and ideas in a wide context, both within China and cross-culturally, and relates many of Zhuangzi’s key notions and practices to modern science, notably physics, biology, and psychology. Encyclopedic in scope, meticulous in execution, and skillfully presented, it is a must for anyone interested in traditional Chinese thought.

Author: Livia Kohn2014335 PagesISBN: 978-1-931483-27-8Cite

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