Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures PDF Author: Stephen R. Bokenkamp
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520923126
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
For centuries Daoism (Taoism) has played a central role in the development of Chinese thought and civilization, yet to this day only a few of its sacred texts have been translated into English. Now Stephen R. Bokenkamp introduces the reader to ancient scriptures never before published in the West, providing a systematic and easily accessible introduction to early Daoism (c. 2nd-6th C.E.). Representative works from each of the principal Daoist traditions comprise the basic structure of the book, with each chapter accompanied by an introduction that places the material within a historical and cultural context. Included are translations of the earliest Daoist commentary to Laozi's Daode jing (Tao Te Ching); historical documents relating the history of the early Daoist church; a petitioning ritual used to free believers from complaints brought against them by the dead; and two complete scriptures, one on individual meditation practice and another designed to rescue humanity from the terrors of hell through recitation of its powerful charms. In addition, Bokenkamp elucidates the connections Daoism holds with other schools of thought, particularly Confucianism and Buddhism. This book provides a much-needed introduction to Daoism for students of religion and is a welcome addition for scholars wishing to explore Daoist sacred literature. It serves as an overview to every aspect of early Daoist tradition and all the seminal practices which have helped shape the religion as it exists today.

Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures PDF Author: Stephen R. Bokenkamp
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 0359990657
Category : Philosophy, Taoist
Languages : en
Pages : 526

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Book Description


Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures PDF Author: Stephen R. Bokenkamp
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 052092312X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Get Book Here

Book Description
For centuries Daoism (Taoism) has played a central role in the development of Chinese thought and civilization, yet to this day only a few of its sacred texts have been translated into English. Now Stephen R. Bokenkamp introduces the reader to ancient scriptures never before published in the West, providing a systematic and easily accessible introduction to early Daoism (c. 2nd-6th C.E.). Representative works from each of the principal Daoist traditions comprise the basic structure of the book, with each chapter accompanied by an introduction that places the material within a historical and cultural context. Included are translations of the earliest Daoist commentary to Laozi's Daode jing (Tao Te Ching); historical documents relating the history of the early Daoist church; a petitioning ritual used to free believers from complaints brought against them by the dead; and two complete scriptures, one on individual meditation practice and another designed to rescue humanity from the terrors of hell through recitation of its powerful charms. In addition, Bokenkamp elucidates the connections Daoism holds with other schools of thought, particularly Confucianism and Buddhism. This book provides a much-needed introduction to Daoism for students of religion and is a welcome addition for scholars wishing to explore Daoist sacred literature. It serves as an overview to every aspect of early Daoist tradition and all the seminal practices which have helped shape the religion as it exists today.

Early Daoist Scriptures

Early Daoist Scriptures PDF Author: Stephen R. Bokenkamp
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


The Scripture on Great Peace

The Scripture on Great Peace PDF Author: Barbara Hendrischke
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520247884
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
"No Western scholar has given the Taiping jing the thorough, painstaking attention that Hendrischke has given it. For the last quarter-century, she has unquestionably been the West's leading expert on the subject. Hendrischke is not only the prime authority on the history and nature of the text itself, but also the prime authority on virtually all related historical materials and issues. Hendrischke draws on this vast knowledge throughout the book. Her arguments are remarkably compelling, the translations are unfailingly precise and expertly nuanced, and there are wonderful tidbits of enlightening new data with fascinating new implications on every page."—Russell Kirkland, author of Taoism: The Enduring Tradition

A Library of Clouds

A Library of Clouds PDF Author: J. E. E. Pettit
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 082488292X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
From early times, Daoist writers claimed to receive scriptures via revelation from heavenly beings. In numerous cases, these writings were composed over the course of many nights and by different mediums. New revelations were often hastily appended, and the resulting unevenness gave rise to the impression that Daoist texts often appear slapdash and contain contradictions. A Library of Clouds focuses on the re-writing of Daoist scriptures in the Upper Clarity (Shangqing) lineage in fourth- and fifth-century China. Scholarship on Upper Clarity Daoism has been dominated by attempts to uncover “original” or “authentic” texts, which has resulted in the neglect of later scriptures—including the work fully translated and annotated here, the Scripture of the Immaculate Numen, one of the Three Wonders (sanqi) and among the most prized Daoist texts in medieval China. The scripture’s lack of a coherent structure and its different authorial voices have led many to see it not as a unified work but the creation of different editors who shaped and reshaped it over time. A Library of Clouds constructs new ways of understanding the complex authorship of texts like the Scripture of the Immaculate Numen and their place in early medieval Daoism. It stresses their significance in understanding the ways in which manuscripts were written, received, and distributed in early medieval China. By situating the scripture within its immediate hagiographic and ritual contexts, it suggests that this kind of revelatory literature is best understood as a pastiche of ideas, a process of weaving together previously circulating notions and beliefs into a new scriptural fabric.

A Fourth-Century Daoist Family

A Fourth-Century Daoist Family PDF Author: Stephen R. Bokenkamp
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520976037
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 215

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Book Description
This volume is the first in a series of full-length English translations from one of the foremost classics in Daoist religious literature, the Zhen gao or Declarations of the Perfected. The Declarations is a collection of poems, accounts of the dead, instructions, and meditation methods received by the Daoist Yang Xi (330–ca. 386 BCE) from celestial beings and shared by him with his patrons and students. These fragments of revealed material were collected and annotated by the eminent scholar and Daoist Tao Hongjing (456–536), allowing us access to these distant worlds and unfamiliar strategies of self-perfection. Bokenkamp's full translation highlights the literary nature of Daoist revelation and the place of the Declarations in the development of Chinese letters. It further details interactions with the Chinese throne and the aristocracy and demonstrates ways that Buddhist borrowings helped shape Daoism much earlier than has been assumed. This first volume also contains heretofore unrecognized reconfigurations of Buddhist myth and practice that Yang Xi introduced to his Daoist audience.

Scriptures, Schools, and Forms of Practice in Daoism

Scriptures, Schools, and Forms of Practice in Daoism PDF Author: Poul Andersen
Publisher: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
ISBN: 9783447051712
Category : Taoism
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Table of contents I. Daoist Scripture and Practice in Comparative Perspective A. Feldtkeller, Scriptures, Forms of Practice, and Comparative Religion P. Andersen, Scriptural Traditions West and East: Foundation of Belief vs. Frameworks for the Transmission of Methods S.R. Bokenkamp, Sackcloth and Ashes: Self and Family in the Tutan zhai J. Lagerwey, Scriptures are the Dregs of the Men of Old: Scripture and Practice in Comparative Perspective E.L. Davis, Daoist Scripture in Comparative Perspective: A Commentary on J. Lagerwey and P. Andersen II. Daoist Scripture and Practice Past and Present F.C. Reiter, The Name of the Nameless and Thunder Magic P. Nickerson, Attacking the Fortress: Prolegomenon to the Study of Ritual Efficacy in Vernacular Daoism Liu Yi, Research into the Catalogue of the Daozang of the Early Tang Dynasty: Based on Nanzhu guan ji and the Daoist Scriptures of Dunhuang Wang Zongyu, Historical Materials for the Quanzhen Daoism in the Wuxing Area V. Olles, Stars and Legends: Some Observations about Sacred Space in Daoism.

Ancestors and Anxiety

Ancestors and Anxiety PDF Author: Stephen R. Bokenkamp
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520249488
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
A work on Chinese concepts of the afterlife. It explores how Chinese authors, including Daoists and non-Buddhists, received and deployed ideas about rebirth from the third to the sixth centuries CE. In tracing the antecedents of these scriptures, it presents non-Buddhist accounts that provide detail on the realms of the dead.

Liu Chuxuan (1147-1203) and His Commentary on the Daoist Scripture Huangdi Yinfu Jing

Liu Chuxuan (1147-1203) and His Commentary on the Daoist Scripture Huangdi Yinfu Jing PDF Author: Peter Acker
Publisher: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag
ISBN: 9783447052412
Category : Huangdi yinfu jing
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
This study presents the first complete translation of Liu Chuxuan's (1147-1203) commentary on the Yellow Emperor's Scripture of Hidden Contracts (Huangdi Yinfujing Zhu). Liu Chuxuan numbers among the famous seven disciples of Wang Chongyang, who is Quanzhen Daoism's founder and one of the most revered figures in religious Daoism. Today one of the two surviving Daoist sects, Quanzhen Daoism was a revolutionary religious movement when it began in the days of the Jin-dynasty. Liu Chuxuan's commentary constitutes an important document for the history of Quanzhen Daoism. First of all, it is one of the few surviving commentaries on a classical Daoist scripture written by a proponent of early Quanzhen. Secondly, Liu Chuxuan's commentary provides insight into the central ideas of internal alchemy, a theory of self-cultivation promoted by early Quanzhen Daoism. On top of that, the commentary's eclectic nature elucidates an important trait of Quanzhen Daoism. It integrates sources from the three different religious traditions of China: Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism. This eclecticism reflects on a general tendency of Chinese culture in the days of the Jin-dynasty. The "unification of the three teachings" was prevalent in the entire society and, until this day, comprises an important aspect of Chinese thought.

Celestial Masters

Celestial Masters PDF Author: Terry Kleeman
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 1684170869
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
In 142 CE, the divine Lord Lao descended to Mount Cranecall (Sichuan province) to establish a new covenant with humanity through a man named Zhang Ling, the first Celestial Master. Facing an impending apocalypse caused by centuries of sin, Zhang and his descendants forged a communal faith centering on a universal priesthood, strict codes of conduct, and healing through the confession of sins; this faith was based upon a new, bureaucratic relationship with incorruptible supernatural administrators. By the fourth century, Celestial Master Daoism had spread to all parts of China, and has since played a key role in China’s religious and intellectual history. Celestial Masters is the first book in any Western language devoted solely to the founding of the world religion Daoism. It traces the movement from the mid-second century CE through the sixth century, examining all surviving primary documents in both secular and canonical sources to offer a comprehensive account of the development of this poorly understood religion. It also provides a detailed analysis of ritual life within the movement, covering the roles of common believer or Daoist citizen, novice, and priest or libationer.