Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 422 g
Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 153 mm x 227 mm, Gewicht: 422 g
ISBN: 978-0-520-08224-3
Verlag: University of California Press
The ancient system of thought known as Taoism remains today the least well known of the world's great religions and one of the most inaccessible aspects of Chinese culture. This is in large part because Western thought clings to the notion of the separation of matter and spirit, body and soul. Taoism refuses this dualism and considers the body's perfection as essential as the soul's redemption is to Christianity.
Kristofer Schipper's elegant and lucid introduction to the traditions of Taoism and the masters who transmit them will reward all those interested in China and in religions. The result of over twenty-five years of research, including eight years of fieldwork in China, Schipper's book retraces, step by step, the way that leads from Chinese shamanism and traditional village life to the physical Tending Life techniques, which in turn lead to the mysticism of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu. Schipper shows the fundamental unity underlying all aspects of Taoism as Taoism considers itself to be. The social body—the community, the village, the land—corresponds in all aspects to the physical body in Taoism. In both of them the survival of humanity is decided here and now. "My destiny is within me, not in Heaven!"
Fachgebiete
Weitere Infos & Material
FOREWORD BY NORMAN GIRADOT
AUTHOR'S NOTE
l
Taoism
The Notion of Religion
The Tao
The History of Taoism
The Destruction of Taoism
2
Everyday Religion
The Temples
The Calendar
Festivals
Food
3
Divinity
Cosmology
The Gods
Spiritual Power
4
The Masters of the Gods
Puppets and Mediums
The Barefoot Master and His Ritual
The Dignitaries of the Tao
The Register
5
Ritual
Becoming a Tao-shih
The Sacrifice ofWritings
The Altar
6
The Inner Landscape
The Environment
The Image of the Body
The Inhabitants
7
Lao Tzu, the Body of the Tao
Birth
8
Keeping the One
The Preliminary Stage: The Work of the
Ch'i (Ch'i-kung)
Chaos: The Work of the Tao
The Return
9
The Immortals
The Abstinence from Grains
Mountains
Alchemy
10
Teaching without Words
The Kingdom of Humpty-Dumpty
The Fast of the Heart
Daily Life
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
