Offering a Taoist map of the human psyche, the "Five Spirits" provide a mythical view of the nervous system and form the basis of Chinese medical psychology. An understanding of these Five Spirits is the key that opens the doorway to the mysteries of Taoist psycho-spiritual alchemy.

After a few twists and turns, would they be able to overcome all these difficulties together? With all these conspiracies together, would he be able to cut through all these obstacles? Would everything really be as he wished? Would it really end like this? It was as though everything was a trap. In that case, would their love be proven, and would they be able to keep their hands on it? What else could be behind this conspiracy? Would it really be as easy as he thought it would be? Would it really end like this? Perhaps, everything is just the beginning, but, he knows, no matter how difficult it is, even if it is to destroy the heaven and earth, he will absolutely not have the slightest bit of fear, this, is him, a man who does not fear everything, a person who makes people infatuated with him, his story, all of the mysteries, are all in this book, let us explore this unknown secret together.

Although the energetic anatomy of men and women is different, the ancient teachings of Nu Dan, a separate branch of internal alchemy for women, have been lost in the literature over the centuries and only survive through practice in the lineages. This book takes a detailed look at female energetic anatomy, exploring how it is different from its male counterpart, and explains and describes the specific practices which support the unique strengths and challenges that the female energy system presents. Previously wrapped in secrecy, the teachings in this book include qigong exercises that activate the energy of the uterus and an explanation of how menstruation and a connection to the cycles of the moon can be converted into a tool for Nei Gong development.

Employing a comparative religious studies approach, this book provides a comprehensive discussion of early Quanzhen as a Daoist religious movement charactized by asceticism, alchemical transformation, and mystical experiencing. Emphasis is placed on the complex interplay among views of self, religious praxis, and religious experience.

This book set covers the last 3000 years of Chinese Medicine, as a broadly flowing river, from its source to its mouth. It takes the story from the very beginnings in proto-scientific China to the modern age, with a wealth of historical and cultural detail. It is unique in presenting many anecdotes, sayings, and excerpts from the traditional classics.The content is organized into four parts. Part one focuses on the medical activities in Chinese primitive society and the characteristic features of the witchcraft stage of medicine. Part two traces the progress of Chinese medicine as it entered the stage of natural philosophy. It also discusses how other aspects of philosophy, religion, and politics influenced Chinese medical theory and practice at the time. Chinese medicine, having a kind of social existence, was also impacted by the natural and social environment, and multiple cultural factors. Some of these factors are discussed in Part three. The last part concludes by examining the cultural process of Chinese medicine in history and offers a glimpse into the future of Chinese Medicine.

Songs for the Spirits examines the Vietnamese practice of communing with spirits through music and performance. During rituals dedicated to a pantheon of indigenous spirits, musicians perform an elaborate sequence of songs--a "songscape"--for possessed mediums who carry out ritual actions, distribute blessed gifts to disciples, and dance to the music's infectious rhythms. Condemned by French authorities in the colonial period and prohibited by the Vietnamese Communist Party in the late 1950s, mediumship practices have undergone a strong resurgence since the early 1990s, and they are now being drawn upon to promote national identity and cultural heritage through folklorized performances of rituals on the national and international stage. By tracing the historical trajectory of traditional music and religion since the early twentieth century, this groundbreaking study offers an intriguing account of the political transformation and modernization of cultural practices over a period of dramatic and often turbulent transition. An accompanying DVD contains numerous video and music extracts that illustrate the fascinating ways in which music evokes the embodied presence of spirits and their gender and ethnic identities.

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.