Liu Yiming - Cultivating the Tao. Taoism and Internal Alchemy / Xiuzhen houbian

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    This book contains a complete translation of one of the main works by the eminent Taoist master Liu Yiming (1734-1821). Divided into 26 short chapters and translated here for the first time, Cultivating the Tao is at the same time a comprehensive overview of the basic principles of Taoism and an introduction to Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan, written by one of the greatest representatives of this tradition.


    Liu Yiming was an 11th-generation master of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage. Having recovered from severe illness in his youth, he undertook extended traveling that led him to meet his two main masters. In 1780, he visited the Qiyun mountains, in the present-day Gansu province, and settled there. He devoted the second half of his life to teaching and writing, and to charitable activities including restoring shrines and buying burial ground for the poor. His works mainly consist of writings on Neidan and of commentaries on major Neidan scriptures.


    Few other masters have illustrated the relation between Taoism and Internal Alchemy as clearly as Liu Yiming does in this book. Grafting Internal Alchemy into the teachings of the Book of the Way and Its Virtue (Daode jing) and of the later Taoist tradition, he shows how the way of the Golden Elixir can lead to the highest state of realization according to the Taoist principles.

    Cultivating the Tao is vol. 2 in the "Masters" series of Golden Elixir Press.


    Original title: Xiuzhen houbian.

    Contents

    Introduction

    TRANSLATION

    Preface

    1 Precelestial Essence, Breath, and Spirit

    2 Postcelestial Essence, Breath, and Spirit

    3 Precelestial Breath of True Unity

    4 True and False Body and Mind

    5 True and False Nature and Existence

    6 Precelestial and Postcelestial Yin and Yang

    7 Internal and External Five Agents

    8 Internal Medicine and External Medicine

    9 Great and Small Reverted Elixir

    10 The Operation of the Auspicious and the Inauspicious

    11 Furnace and Tripod in the Initial and the Final Stages

    12 Internal and External Fire Phases

    13 The Other House and My House

    14 The True Initial Flow

    15 Refining the Nine Tripods

    16 The One Opening of the Mysterious Barrier

    17 The Ebb and Flow of Celestial Net

    18 Giving and Taking Life, Punishment and Virtue

    19 Superior Virtue and Inferior Virtue

    20 Doing and Non-Doing

    21 Zi, Wu, Mao, You

    22 Life and Death, Being and Non-Being

    23 Precelestial and Postcelestial Kan and Li

    24 Laying the Foundations for Refining Oneself

    25 Internal and External Companions

    26 Exerting One’s Mind to Inquire into the Principles

    Glossary of Chinese Characters

    Works Quoted


    Eigene Beurteilung/Eigenzitat von amazon.de


    Da mir dieses Buch von einem meiner Lehrer vor einigen Jahren ans Herz gelegt wurde - wobei dieser selbst nicht in der Linie der Drachentorschule (Longmen Pai) steht, hatte ich es für längere Zeit auf meiner to-do-Liste.


    Tatsächlich werden hier viele Aspekte der daoistischen Lehre vorausgesetzt (nicht nur das I-Ching) und vieles, was hier geschrieben wird ist eine Kritik der Auslegungen dieser und anderer Schriften durch die Lehrer und Schüler zu Liu Yimings Lebenszeit. Dabei werden die grundlegenden Konzepte des Daoismus (die Verwendung des 'T' in Titel und Text geht darauf zurück, dass Pregadio die englische Übersetzung der Übersetzung von Wilhelm Reich für seine Übersetzung zugrunde gelegt hat) nicht wirklich erklärt, wohl aber verschiedene Interpretationen derselben. Nahezu jedes Kapitel endet dann in der Feststellung: 'Die Schüler und Lehrer von heute machen das in der Regel falsch.'


    Dabei sind die beschriebenen Inhalte von Kapitel zu Kapitel zu Teil sehr repetitiv, (genauso, wie Pregadios Kommentare dazu), was nicht gerade Lesefreude erzeugt. Interessanter Einblick in das Denken eines Daoisten eines Zweiges des Daoismus zu einem bestimmten historischen Zeitpunkt, aber es gibt deutlich zugänglichere Texte zu diesem Thema. Eher von akademischen Interesse für Innere-Alchemie-Nerds.