Daoist Principles--Daoism, Taoism, Alchemy (Revised Edition): Daoism, Taoism, Alchemy (Revised Edition)

Author: Hu Fuchun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Reading one book can provide you with the entire professional knowledge of a discipline! Reading one book can develop wisdom and gain methods for fitness and health preservation! Reading one book can open up a new frontier in Daoist culture! Comrade Hu Fuchun's book "General Introduction to Daoism—Daoism, Taoism, and Alchemy" can be said to be a pleasing outcome of his decades of research, and it is a book worth reading. The special "Alchemy Chapter" in this book is highly meaningful. "Alchemy" holds a unique position in Chinese culture and is often shrouded in mystery. How to understand its true value through its mystique is a very challenging problem. However, Comrade Hu Fuchun, originally trained in chemistry, possesses a strong scientific background, which enables him to systematically organize various "alchemical practices" realistically and discuss their modern significance, offering significant insights into this issue.
If an academic thought and its methodology are studied only historically and interpreted, it is certainly meaningful. However, if it can further explore its modern significance, it can make the deepening of knowledge and the benefit to humanity even more meaningful. The chapter "The Modern Significance of Daoist Culture" discusses the significance of "Daoist culture" for contemporary human society in terms of science, philosophy, religion, and other aspects. It should be said to have a certain pioneering nature.
Modern science has advanced by leaps and bounds, and many phenomena that were once unknown can now be explained by science or verified through experiments. However, so far, humanity remains largely ignorant of many aspects of nature, especially about itself, or has only certain hypotheses that cannot yet be confirmed. If humans differ from other animals, a very important point is that they can ask countless strange, unanswered questions and are fond of exploring the "unknown." From ancient to modern times, from East to West, different ethnic groups in various periods and environments have raised many strange questions and attempted to explain them. Although some of their explanations were later proven incorrect, many of these strange questions were indeed valuable "true" questions. Those seemingly meaningless strange questions may be the treasure troves we should continuously explore, and studying them is the great driving force behind human progress and scientific development.
Therefore, I believe that conclusions sometimes drawn from academic research may be wrong, but the questions raised for discussion are very important.
Preface by Mr. Tang Yijie
Preface by Mr. Huang Xinchuan
Preface by Mr. Ye Xiushan
Part One: General Introduction
Chapter 1: Naming Daoism
Chapter 2: The Cultural Origins of Daoism
Chapter 3: The Evolution of Traditional Culture and Daoism
Section 3.1: "The Philosophical Breakthrough" in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period
Section 3.2: China's National Conditions and the Various Schools of Thought
Section 3.3: The Formation and Evolution of Daoist Scholarship
Section 3.4: The Development Line of Daoist Scholarship
Section 3.5: The Eight Pillars of Daoism
Section 3.6: A Brief Overview of the Personality of Daoism
Chapter 4: The Central Ideas of Daoism
Section 4.1: The Daoist Concept of the Dao
Section 4.2: The Virtue of Harmony
Section 4.3: Dispelling Misunderstandings
Section 4.4: Essentials of the Constant Dao
Chapter 5: The Modern Significance of Daoist Culture
Section 5.1: Science, Philosophy, and Religion at the Turn of the Century
Section 5.2: The Enlightenment of Daoist Culture for Modern Society
Section 5.3: Daoism and the New Culture of the 21st Century
Part Two: Daoism
Chapter 1: The Laozi and Zhuangzi Philosophy of the Pre-Qin Period
Section 1.1: The Creation of the Daoist School by Laozi
Section 1.2: The Dissemination and Evolution of Daoist Thought
Section 1.3: The Development of the Zhuangzi School
Chapter 2: The Huanglao Studies of the Qin and Han Periods
Section 2.1: The "Rites of the Lu Family" with a Focus on the Dao
Section 2.2: The "Huainanzi" Synthesizing Northern and Southern Daoism
Section 2.3: Huanglao Health Preservation Studies
Chapter 3: The Xuanxue of the Wei and Jin Periods
Section 3.1: Wang Bi's Xuanxue Thought
Section 3.2: Ruan Ji and Ji Kang's Contribution to Xuanxue
Section 3.3: Guo Xiang's Deepening of Xuanxue
Chapter 4: The Chongxuan Studies of the Sui and Tang Periods
Section 4.1: Cheng Xuying and Li Rong's Chongxuan Studies
Section 4.2: Du Guangting's Chongxuan Studies
Chapter 5: The Neidan and Xingxing Studies of the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing Periods
Section 5.1: The Xingming-First Xingxing Theory of the Southern Jindan School
Section 5.2: The Xingxing-First Xingming Neidan Studies of the Quanzhen School
Section 5.3: Wang Zhijin's Xingxing-First Xingming Theory
Section 5.4: Li Daochun's Synthesis of Northern and Southern Xingxing Studies
Conclusion
Part Three: Taoism
Chapter 1: What is Taoism
Section 1.1: The Definition of Taoism
Section 1.2: The Conditions for the Emergence of Taoism
Section 1.3: The Characteristics of Taoism
Chapter 2: The Development History of Taoism
Section 2.1: Fuxian Dao, Huanglao Dao, and Wu Gui Dao
Section 2.2: Early Taoism of the Late Han Dynasty
Section 2.3: Transitional Taoism of the Wei and Jin Periods
Section 2.4: The Reform and Maturity of Taoism in the Northern and Southern Dynasties
Section 2.5: The Prosperity and State Religion of Taoism in the Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, and Ten Kingdoms
Section 2.6: The Multiplication and Innovation of Taoism in the Song, Liao, Jin, and Yuan Periods
Section 2.7: The Decline and Secularization of Taoism in the Ming and Qing Periods
Conclusion
Chapter 3: The Rites, Sacrifices, and Precepts of Taoism
Chapter 4: The Current Status and Prospects of Taoism
Section 4.1: The Current Status of Taoism's Development
Section 4.2: The Lives of Main Taoist Temples and Taoists in Mainland China
Section 4.3: The Prospects of Taoism's Development
Part Four: Alchemy
Chapter 1: Mental Concentration, Guided Breathing, Qi Methods, and Fitness Techniques
Section 1.1: Massage, Guided Breathing, and Martial Arts
Section 1.2: Fasting, Qi Ingestion, and Qi Collection
Section 1.3: Mental Concentration, Guarding One, and Zuo Wang
Section 1.4: Violent Practices, Vapor Distribution, and Fetal Breathing
Chapter 2: Medicine, Diet, and Health Preservation
Section 2.1: Taoist Medical Studies
Section 2.2: Diet, Beauty, and Food Therapy
Section 2.3: Clothing, Food, Living Habits, and Health Preservation
Section 2.4: Sleep Methods and Sleep Skills
Chapter 3: The Health Preservation Studies of the Room
Section 3.1: The Cultural Origins and Existing Literature of the Room Health Preservation Studies
Section 3.2: A Brief Overview of the Historical Development of the Room Health Preservation Studies
Section 3.3: The Theoretical Principles and Basic Content of the Room Health Preservation Studies
Chapter 4: External Alchemy and Yellow White Alchemy
Section 4.1: The Historical Evolution of External Alchemy and Yellow White Alchemy
Section 4.2: The Thought Lines and Theoretical Systems of Alchemists
Section 4.3: The Operational Procedures and Chemical Reactions of Gold-Dan Alchemy
Chapter 5: Chinese Mathematical and Alchemical Studies
Section 5.1: The Origin of Chinese Mathematical and Alchemical Studies
Section 5.2: The Development of Mathematical and Alchemical Studies
Section 5.3: The Transmission of Mathematical and Alchemical Studies
Section 5.4: An Academic Perspective on Mathematical and Alchemical Studies
Part Five: Alchemy
Chapter 1: The Deities and Immortals in Taoism
Section 1.1: The Beliefs of Deities in Taoism
Section 1.2: The Beliefs of Immortals and Various Immortal Beings
Section 1.3: Popular Deities in Taoism
Chapter 2: The Realm of Immortals
Chapter 3: The Path to Immortality
Chapter 4: The Origin of Neidan Studies
Section 4.1: An Overview of Neidan Studies
Section 4.2: The Initial Transmission of Neidan Studies
Section 4.3: The Formation of the Theoretical System of Neidan Studies
Section 4.4: The Maturation and Multiplication of Neidan Studies
Chapter 5: The Basic Characteristics of Zhong and Lü Neidan Methods
Chapter 6: The Essentials of Various Neidan Methods
Section 6.1: The Essentials of the Southern School Neidan Methods
Section 6.2: The Essentials of the Northern School Neidan Methods
Section 6.3: The Characteristics of the Central School Neidan Methods
Section 6.4: An Overview of the Eastern School Neidan Methods
Section 6.5: A Brief Overview of the Western School Neidan Methods
Section 6.6: A Summary of the Wen Shi School Neidan Methods
Section 6.7: A Brief Overview of the Sanfeng School Neidan Methods
Section 6.8: A Brief Overview of the Qingcheng School Neidan Methods
Section 6.9: A Brief Overview of the Sanfeng Collection and Battle Alchemy Methods
Chapter 7: The Basic Theories of Neidan Revealed
Chapter 8: An Introduction to Neidan Practice
Section 8.1: Reading Books and Seeking Teachers
Section 8.2: The Effects of Neidan Practice
Section 8.3: Age and Conditions for Neidan Practice
Section 8.4: An Overview of Neidan Practice in the Inner Chamber
Chapter 9: The Basic Steps of Neidan Practice
Chapter 10: The Program of the Self-Purification School Neidan Methods
Chapter 11: The Program of the Same-Kind Yin-Yang School Neidan Methods
Chapter 12: An Overview of the Female Gold-Dan Methods
Conclusion
Part Six: The Daozang
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Creation of Early Daoist Texts and the Period of Free Creation of Scriptures
Chapter 2: The San Dong Si Fu Classification System and Related Daoist Texts
Section 2.1: A Brief Overview of the Meaning of San Dong Si Fu
Section 2.2: The Content and Origin of the Seven Schools of Scriptures
Chapter 3: The Compilation of Daoist Texts in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty
Section 3.1: Lu Xiuqing's Generalization of the San Dong Scriptures
Section 3.2: Daoist Texts of the Liang Dynasty and the "Yuwei Seven Schools of Scriptures Catalogue"
Section 3.3: The Compilation of Daoist Texts in the Northern Zhou Dynasty
Section 3.4: Daoist Texts of the Sui Dynasty
Chapter 4: The "Daozang" During the Tang, Song, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties
Section 4.1: The Compilation of the "Daozang" in the Tang Dynasty
Section 4.2: The "Daozang" of the Song Dynasty
Section 4.3: The "Daozang" of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties
Chapter 5: The "Daozang" and Extrazonal Daoist Texts in the Ming and Qing Dynasties
Section 5.1: The Ming "Zhengtong Daozang" and "Wanli Continuation Daozang"
Section 5.2: The "Daozang" and "Daozang Collection" After the Qing Dynasty
Section 5.3: Daoist Texts Outside the "Daozang"
Afterword
Appendix 1: Supplementary Notes on the "General Introduction to Daoism·Neidan Chapter"
Appendix 2: A New Strategy for the 21st Century Daoist Culture
Postscript for the Revised Edition
Afterword for the Postscript