Maoshan Taoist

Isabelle Robinet's Taoist Meditation is the first and only scholarly study to discuss the ancient Mao-shan Taoist tradition of visionary meditation while, at the same time, helping to clarify the little understood relationship among the early Taoist classics, the Buddhist tradition, and the later Taoist religion. Most importantly, Taoist Meditation is a pioneering study that fully and accurately describes the unique visionary cosmology, bodily symbolism, astral journeys, internal alchemy, meditational techniques, and ritual practices of the Mao-shan or Shang-chi'ing (Great Purity) movement--one of the most important foundational traditions making up the overall Taoist religion. This English version of Robinet's work is more than a simple translation.Taoist Meditation presents a significantly expanded edition of the original French text which includes up-to-date bibliographies of Robinet's work and other Western scholarship on Taoism, additional illustrations, and a newly compiled list of textual citations.

This is a survey of the history of Taoism from approximately the third century B.C. to the fourteenth century A.D. For many years, it was customary to divide Taoism into "philosophical Taoism" and "religious Taoism." The author has long argued that this is a false division and that "religious" Taoism is simply the practice of "philosophical" Taoism. She sees Taoism as foremost a religion, and the present work traces the development of Taoism up to the point it reached its mature form (which remains intact today, albeit with modern innovations). The main aim of this history of Taoism is to trace the major lines of its doctrinal evolution, showing the coherence of its development, the wide varieties of factors that came into play over a long period of disconnected eras, the constant absorptions of outside contributions, and the progress that integrates them. The author shows how certain recurrent themes are treated in different ways in different eras and different sects. Among these themes are the Ultimate Truth, immortality, the Sage, the genesis and the end of the world, retribution for good and evil acts, representations of heavens and hells, and the connections between life and the spirit, between life and death, between man and society, and between mystical experience and the social form of religion. The plan of the book is chronological, but the chronology is somewhat fluid given the way Taoism evolved; as it assimilated new features in the course of its growth, it never ceased to continue to develop the old ones. Thus the Celestial Masters sect, which is chronologically the first to attain a structure, is treated at the outset of the book though it exists down to our day, and the Shangqing tradition took shape in the fourth century though its glory years were under the Tang (618-907).

Taoism remains the only major religion whose canonical texts have not been systematically arranged and made available for study. This long-awaited work, a milestone in Chinese studies, catalogs and describes all existing texts within the Taoist canon. The result will not only make the entire range of existing Taoist texts accessible to scholars of religion, it will open up a crucial resource in the study of the history of China. The vast literature of the Taoist canon, or Daozang, survives in a Ming Dynasty edition of some fifteen hundred different texts. Compiled under imperial auspices and completed in 1445—with a supplement added in 1607—many of the books in the Daozang concern the history, organization, and liturgy of China's indigenous religion. A large number of works deal with medicine, alchemy, and divination. If scholars have long neglected this unique storehouse of China's religious traditions, it is largely because it was so difficult to find one's way within it. Not only was the rationale of its medieval classification system inoperable for the many new texts that later entered the Daozang, but the system itself was no longer understood by the Ming editors; hence the haphazard arrangement of the canon as it has come down to us. This new work sets out the contents of the Daozang chronologically, allowing the reader to follow the long evolution of Taoist literature. Lavishly illustrated, the first volume ranges from antiquity through the Middle Ages, while the second spans the modern period. Within this frame, texts are grouped by theme and subject. Each one is the subject of a historical abstract that identifies the text's contents, date of origin, and author. Throughout the first two volumes, introductions outline the evolution of Taoism and its spiritual heritage. A third volume offering biographical sketches of frequently mentioned Taoists, multiple indexes, and an extensive bibliography provides critical tools for navigating this guide to one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture.

For the first time in English, Benebell Wen reveals the rich history and theoretical principles underlying the ancient practice of crafting Fu talismans, or magical sigils, in the Chinese Taoist tradition and gives detailed instructions for modern practitioners who would like to craft their own Fu. Fu talismans are ideograms and writings typically rendered on paper and empowered by means of invocations, ritual, and transferences of energy, or Qi. Talismans can be used for many purposes, such as strengthening or weakening personality characteristics, finding love, earning more money, or easing emotional tensions in the home. The Tao of Craft shows how metaphysical energy can be harnessed to amplify, strengthen, weaken, dispel, or block other metaphysical energy and to rectify perceived imbalances in the material plane. Supported by an abundance of detailed charts and images, this book serves as a step-by-step handbook that gives readers the knowledge and confidence to craft their own Fu talismans for personal empowerment. Wen, author of Holistic Tarot, delves into historic and cultural contexts of the Fu, from the neolithic period of Chinese history to contemporary practices of esoteric Taoism. Providing a solid foundation in the principles of Eastern spellcrafting, she highlights the blending of Taoist metaphysical practices with Western approaches to magic by pointing out eclectic, integrating, and harmonizing facets from other cultures and religions. Historically, Fu talismans were used by medieval Chinese for alleviating illness; averting misfortune, magical attacks, and curses; defending against assaults; and avoiding poverty. This book shows Western practitioners that the skill and knowledge to develop an interactive relationship with spirit realms are still available to them today, and serves as a practical handbook for accumulating Qi energy from sources in the environment and channeling it in concentrated form into their own Fu talismans.

Thirty years ago, Hu Shih's views of Chinese society and history were representative of Sinology in general: China itself had no native religion, just local customs; its only real religion was an import, Buddhism. These views have now been completely overturned, with massive implications for our understanding not only of China but also of humanity as a whole: it is no longer possible to imagine that at least one major traditional society constructed and construed itself without reference to a non-mundane world that permeated every facet of society, and it therefore becomes indispensable for students of China to take the history of Chinese religion into account and for students of religion to take into account the Chinese experience of and Chinese categories for dealing with religious phenomena. The present volumes contain a selection of twenty-one essays presented in a conference convened jointly by the Ecole francaise d'Extreme-Orient and the Centre for the Study of Religion and Chinese Society of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, on "Religion and Chinese Society: The Transformation of a Field and Its Implications for the Study of Chinese Culture" held on May 29-June 2, 2000. The collection aims at providing as wide a coverage as possible of recent research in the history of Chinese religion and seeks to draw some tentative conclusions about the implications for the study of Chinese religion and society in general.

"My life is not complete, I was born and my mother died.""In order to protect me, my grandmother died, my uncle died, and my father disappeared."It wasn't until the end that I realized it was all because.