- 228 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
The Daoist canon is the definitive fifteenth century compilation of texts concerning ritual, alchemical and meditation practices within Daoist religion. Many of these texts are undated and anonymous, so dating them is essential for a clear understanding of the development of Chinese alchemy, and the place of these texts in history.
Ho Peng Yoke's Explorations in Daoism brings together an extraordinary compendium of data on alchemical knowledge in China, describing the methods used for dating important alchemical texts in the Daoist canon, and reconstructing and translating a number of alchemical texts that exist only in fragments scattered throughout the Daoist canon, pharmacopoeia and other compendia.
This book provides a clear guide for students and scholars about the methods required for dating and reconstituting texts using techniques that can be applied to other areas of traditional Chinese culture also. As such, this book will appeal to those interested in Chinese alchemy, the history of science, Daoism and Chinese history.
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Table of contents
- Cover Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Figures
- Foreword
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- A brief note on Chinese romanisation
- Abbreviations
- 1 Introduction
- 2 On the dating of Daoist alchemical texts
- 3 Danfang jianyuan (Mirror of Alchemical Processes—a Source Book) and Danfang jingyuan (Mirror of the Alchemical Laboratory)
- 4 Partial restoration, collation and translation of lost alchemical texts
- 5 General discussions
- Appendix I Beyond the Daoist Canon: proto-chemistry in the pharmacopoeia
- Appendix II Extracts from al-Bīrūnī’s pharmacopoeia with added commentaries
- Table I A glossary of common Chinese alchemical terms
- Table II Plant names and properties in Chunyang Lü Zhenren yaoshizhi and Xuanyuan Huangdi shuijing yaofa
- Table III Chinese dynasties
- Notes
- Bibliography