Fabrizio Pregadio
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804751773
- eISBN:
- 9780804767736
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804751773.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
This book examines 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). The book shows ...
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This book examines 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). The book 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. It also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices. The book contains full translations of three important medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries, making available in English the gist of the early Chinese alchemical corpus.Less
This book examines 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). The book 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. It also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices. The book contains full translations of three important medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries, making available in English the gist of the early Chinese alchemical corpus.
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780804751773
- eISBN:
- 9780804767736
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Stanford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.11126/stanford/9780804751773.003.0003
- Subject:
- Religion, World Religions
The alchemical doctrines and practices are deemed not to have originated in the human world; instead, they enter the world through a divine revelation, or through the transcription of scriptures ...
More
The alchemical doctrines and practices are deemed not to have originated in the human world; instead, they enter the world through a divine revelation, or through the transcription of scriptures originally kept in heaven. The history of this heaven—of what has been written about it in different times and in different contexts—reveals many details on the nature of the Taiqing tradition. This chapter examines some aspects of this history: the use of the word taiqing to denote an inner spiritual state; the features of the heaven of Great Clarity mentioned in several Taiqing and Daoist sources; and the destiny that this heaven faced when it lost its status as the highest celestial realm.Less
The alchemical doctrines and practices are deemed not to have originated in the human world; instead, they enter the world through a divine revelation, or through the transcription of scriptures originally kept in heaven. The history of this heaven—of what has been written about it in different times and in different contexts—reveals many details on the nature of the Taiqing tradition. This chapter examines some aspects of this history: the use of the word taiqing to denote an inner spiritual state; the features of the heaven of Great Clarity mentioned in several Taiqing and Daoist sources; and the destiny that this heaven faced when it lost its status as the highest celestial realm.
