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

Author: Hu Fuchen, Lü Xichen
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-22
Features: Reading one book can provide you with all the 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 Fuchen's book, General Introduction to Daoism—Daoism, Taoism, and Alchemy, can be said to be a pleasing outcome of his two or three decades of research, and it is a book worth reading. In this book, a special section titled "Methods and Practices" is highly meaningful. "Methods and Practices" holds a unique position in Chinese culture and is often associated with a certain mystique. How to understand the true value behind its mystique is a very challenging problem. Comrade Hu Fuchen, originally trained in chemistry, possesses a strong scientific background, which enables him to systematically organize various "methods and practices" in a realistic manner and discuss their modern significance, offering significant insights into this issue.
If an academic thought and its methods are merely studied and interpreted historically, 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 on "The Modern Significance of Daoist Culture" discusses the relevance of "Daoist culture" to contemporary human society in terms of science, philosophy, religion, and other aspects. It can 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 confirmed through experiments. However, so far, humanity remains largely ignorant of many aspects of nature, especially of itself, or has only certain hypotheses that cannot yet be proven. If there is anything that distinguishes humans from other animals, I believe one important point is the ability to ask countless strange, unanswered questions and a fondness for exploring the "unknown." Throughout history, from east to west, different ethnic groups in various periods and environments have proposed many strange and bizarre questions, attempting to provide explanations for them. Although some of these explanations were later proven incorrect, many of these strange questions indeed contain valuable "true" questions. Those seemingly meaningless, strange questions may very well be a treasure trove that we should continuously explore, and studying them is a great driving force for advancing human progress and scientific development.
Therefore, I believe that while conclusions drawn from academic research may sometimes be wrong, the questions raised for discussion are extremely important.