The Study Of Chinese Alchemy
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Author |
: Obed Simon Johnson |
Publisher |
: Martino Publishing |
Total Pages |
: 178 |
Release |
: 2009-04 |
ISBN-10 |
: 1578986826 |
ISBN-13 |
: 9781578986828 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (26 Downloads) |
Synopsis A Study of Chinese Alchemy by : Obed Simon Johnson
Reprint. Paperback.156p. In China as elsewhere, alchemy is a doctrine aiming to afford an understanding of the principles underlying the formation and functioning of the cosmos. The alchemist overcomes the limits of individuality, and ascends to higher states of being; he becomes, in Chinese terms, a zhenren or Authentic Man. Chinese alchemy went through a complex and not yet entirely understood development along its twenty centuries of documented history. The two main traditions are conventionally known as waidan or "external alchemy" and neidan or "internal alchemy". The bulk of the Chinese alchemical sources is found in the Daozang (Taoist Canon), the largest collection of Taoist texts. The cosmos as we know it is conceived of as the final stage in a series of spontaneous transmutations stemming from original non-existence. This process entails the apparent separation of primeval Unity into the two complementary principles, yin and yang. Their re-union generates the cosmos. When the process is completed, the cosmos is subject to the laws of cosmology. The alchemist's task is to retrace this process backwards. Alchemy, whether "external" or "internal," providessupport to the adept, leading one to the point when, as some texts put it, "Heaven spontaneously reveals its secrets." Its practice must be performed under the close supervision of a master, who provides the "oral instructions" (koujue) necessary to an understanding of the processes that the adept performs with minerals and metals, or undergoes within himself. Modern study of the alchemical literature began in the present century, after the Canon was reprinted and made widely available in 1926. Johnson's work, originally published in 1928, remains one of the full book length treatises in English on the subject.
Author |
: Jean Cooper |
Publisher |
: Weiser Books |
Total Pages |
: 170 |
Release |
: 2016-06-01 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9781609259822 |
ISBN-13 |
: 1609259823 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (22 Downloads) |
Synopsis Chinese Alchemy by : Jean Cooper
Here in one slender volume is a basic introduction to Chinese alchemy—a tradition that dates back 5,000 years. Chinese alchemy, largely associated with Taoism, has a recorded history of more than 2,000 years, but traditionally it goes back even further to nearly 3000 BC and the time of the Yellow Emperor. While Western alchemy was concerned with the search for spiritual and material gold, classic Taoist alchemy was a mystical quest for immortality with its aim being union with the Absolute. Jean Cooper describes the history and development of Taoist alchemy, compares it to similar traditions in India and Turkistan, and gives it context by contrasting it with the rationale of the Western hermetic tradition. As she writes in her concluding chapter: The whole work of alchemy is summed up in the phrase "To make of the body a spirit and of the spirit a body". . . . The goal of the Taoist alchemist-mystic was transformation, or perhaps more correctly, transfiguration, of the whole body until it ceases to "be" and is absorbed into and becomes the Tao. This is an essential guide for anyone interested in Chinese legend and lore, Chinese magic and medicine, and Taoism.
Author |
: Obed Simon Johnson |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: 172 |
Release |
: 2013-10 |
ISBN-10 |
: 1258957582 |
ISBN-13 |
: 9781258957582 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (82 Downloads) |
Synopsis The Study of Chinese Alchemy by : Obed Simon Johnson
This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.
Author |
: Nathan Sivin |
Publisher |
: Cambridge : Harvard University Press |
Total Pages |
: 376 |
Release |
: 1968 |
ISBN-10 |
: UCAL:B3645972 |
ISBN-13 |
: |
Rating |
: 4/5 (72 Downloads) |
Synopsis Chinese Alchemy: Preliminary Studies by : Nathan Sivin
Author |
: Fabrizio Pregadio |
Publisher |
: Stanford University Press |
Total Pages |
: 405 |
Release |
: 2006-02-27 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9780804767736 |
ISBN-13 |
: 0804767734 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (36 Downloads) |
Synopsis Great Clarity by : Fabrizio Pregadio
This is the first book to examine extensively the religious aspects of Chinese alchemy. Its main focus is the relation of alchemy to the Daoist traditions of the early medieval period (third to sixth centuries). It shows how alchemy contributed to and was tightly integrated into the elaborate body of doctrines and practices that Daoists built at that time, from which Daoism as we know it today evolved. The book also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices. It contains full translations of three important medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries, making available for the first time in English the gist of the early Chinese alchemical corpus.
Author |
: Fabrizio Pregadio |
Publisher |
: Golden Elixir Press |
Total Pages |
: 58 |
Release |
: 2009 |
ISBN-10 |
: |
ISBN-13 |
: |
Rating |
: 4/5 ( Downloads) |
Synopsis Chinese Alchemy by : Fabrizio Pregadio
Author |
: Obed Simon Johnson |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: 172 |
Release |
: 1937 |
ISBN-10 |
: UOM:39015062762102 |
ISBN-13 |
: |
Rating |
: 4/5 (02 Downloads) |
Synopsis A Study of Chinese Alchemy by : Obed Simon Johnson
Author |
: Mu Wang |
Publisher |
: Golden Elixir Press |
Total Pages |
: 156 |
Release |
: 2011 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9780984308255 |
ISBN-13 |
: 0984308253 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (55 Downloads) |
Synopsis Foundations of Internal Alchemy by : Mu Wang
Originally written for Chinese readers, this book provides a clear description of the Taoist practice of Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. The author outlines the four stages of the alchemical practice and clarifies several relevant terms and notions, including Essence, Breath, and Spirit; the Cinnabar Fields; the "Fire Times"; and the Embryo. The book is based on the system of the Wuzhen pian (Awakening to Reality), one of the main sources of Internal Alchemy, and contains about two hundred quotations from original Taoist texts. Table of Contents Foreword, vii INTRODUCTION, 1 The Basis: Essence and Spirit, 3 STAGES OF THE ALCHEMICAL PRACTICE IN AWAKENING TO REALITY, 11 The Four Stages, 13 "Laying the Foundations," 15 Main Points in the Practice of "Laying the Foundations," 20 The Functions of Essence, Breath, and Spirit, 36 Terms Related to the "Coagulation of the Three Treasures," 52 Conclusion of the Stage of "Laying the Foundations," 63 "Refining Essence to Transmute it into Breath," 65 "Refining Breath to Transmute it into Spirit," 99 "Refining Spirit to Return to Emptiness," 109 CONCLUSION, 119 The "Arts of the Way," 121 Tables, 123 Glossary of Chinese Characters, 133
Author |
: Nathan Sivin |
Publisher |
: |
Total Pages |
: 365 |
Release |
: 1968-01-01 |
ISBN-10 |
: 0783717245 |
ISBN-13 |
: 9780783717241 |
Rating |
: 4/5 (45 Downloads) |
Synopsis Chinese Alchemy by : Nathan Sivin
Author |
: Catherine Despeux |
Publisher |
: BRILL |
Total Pages |
: 311 |
Release |
: 2018-11-26 |
ISBN-10 |
: 9789004383456 |
ISBN-13 |
: 900438345X |
Rating |
: 4/5 (56 Downloads) |
Synopsis Taoism and Self Knowledge by : Catherine Despeux
Catherine Despeux’s book Taoism and Self Knowledge is a study of the Internal Alchemical text "Chart for the Cultivation of Perfection." It begins with an analysis of pictographic and symbolic representation of the body in early Taoism after which the author examines different extant versions of the "Chart" as it was transmitted among Quanzhen groups in the Qing dynasty. The book is comprised of four main parts: the principal parts of the body and their nomenclature in Internal Alchemy, the spirits in the human body, and the alchemical processes and procedures used in thunder rituals and self-cultivation. This is a revised, expanded edition of the original French edition Taoïsme et connaissance de soi. La carte de la culture de la perfection (Xiuzhen tu) Paris, 2012.