Containing sixty translations from a large variety of texts, this is an accessible yet thorough introduction to the major concepts, doctrines, and practices of Taoism. It presents the philosophy, rituals, and health techniques of the ancients as well as the practices and ideas of Taoists today. Divided into four sections, it follows the Taoist Path: The Tao, Long Life, Eternal Vision, and Immortality. It shows how the world of the Tao is perceived from within the tradition, what fervent Taoists did, and how practitioners saw their path and goals. The Taoist Experience is unique in that it presents the whole of Taoist tradition in the very words of its active practitioners. It conveys not only a sense of the depth of the Taoist religious experience but also of the underlying unity of the various schools and strands.
Innehållsförteckning
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part One: The Tao
Chapter One. The Tao
1. The Tao That Can’t Be Told
2. The Tao in the World
3. Pure and Tranquil
4. Ineffable Knowledge
Chapter Two. Creation
5. Scriptures Create the Universe
6. Numinous Treasure—Wondrous History
7. The Lands of the Immortals
8. Gods and Goddesses
Chapter Three. The Teaching
9. The Three Caverns
10. The Transformations of Laozi
11. The Path
12. The Way to Complete Perfection
Part Two: Long Life
Chapter Four. Discipline
13. Precepts and Prescriptions
14. Protective Measures
15. How To Be Taught
16. Passing the Test
Chapter Five. Physical Practices
17. Breathing for Life
18. Gymnastics
19. Drugs and Diets
20. Sexual Techniques
Chapter Six. The Cosmic Body
21. The Structure of the Body
22. The Body As the World
23. The World in the Body
24. The Gods Within
Part Three: Eternal Vision
Chapter Seven. The One
25. Lights in the Body
26. The True One
27. The Three Ones
28. One in All
Chapter Eight. Insight Practice
29. Two Kinds of Observation
30. Energies and Elixirs
31. Observing Life
32. Glimpses of the New Mind
Chapter Nine. Ecstatic Excursions
33. The Far-off Journey
34. Trips through the Stars
35. Divine Loves
36. Ecstatic Sleep
Part Four: Immortality
Chapter Ten. Immortal Personality
37. The Perfected
38. To Be a Sage
39. Magical Powers
40. The Virtue of Wine
Chapter Eleven. Ascension
41. Alchemical Transformation
42. The Inner Elixir
43. Gradual Dissolution
44. Eyewitness Accounts
Chapter Twelve. Immortal Life
45. Celestial Garb
46. The Administration of Heaven
47. Sojourn Among Mortals
48. Feasting in Paradise
List of Chinese Texts Translated
Bibliography
Index
Om författaren
Livia Kohn is Assistant Professor of Religion at Boston University. She has written
Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of Western Ascension, also published by SUNY Press,
Seven Steps to the Tao, Sima Chengzhen’s Zuowanglun, and
Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques.
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