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Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality

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Description:Internal alchemy (neidan) has been the dominant system of Daoist spiritual practice since the Song dynasty, when it was defined as the complex integration of multiple forms of Daoist self-cultivation. Its practitioners transform body energies into subtle levels of spirit and pure cosmic being, hoping to find illumination by returning to the fundamental order of the cosmos and in the process reconcile physiological training with intellectual speculation. Bringing together the best work of leading scholars in the field, this book provides, for the first time in English, a thorough and easily accessible introduction to this important tradition. The book begins with a a general survey of the body cultivation methods that form the backbone of internal alchemy and an analysis of its understanding of the human body and the terminology it employs. Next, it presents the historical development of the tradition with its major schools and a detailed discussion of key concepts, such as mind, inner nature, and destiny. Following this, presentations focus on specific practices, such as the emergence of the spirit through the top of the head, the activation of internal visions in Thunder Ritual, the sexual comingling of energies in duo-cultivation, and the body visions and transformative techniques employed by women. The volume also contains two contributions on the contemporary application of internal alchemy in China and the West. It concludes with comparative studies on Kundalini Yoga and Hermeticism.Livia Kohn graduated from Bonn University, Germany, in 1980. She then spent six years doing research at the Institute for Research in Humanities of Kyoto University in Japan, after which she joined Boston University as Professor of Religion and East Asian Studies. She has also worked variously as visiting professor and adjunct faculty at Lorand University in Budapest, the Stanford Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and San Francisco State University. She has served on numerous committees and editorial boards, and organized a series of major international conferences on Daoism.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality. To get started finding Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
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ISBN: 1931483116

Description: Internal alchemy (neidan) has been the dominant system of Daoist spiritual practice since the Song dynasty, when it was defined as the complex integration of multiple forms of Daoist self-cultivation. Its practitioners transform body energies into subtle levels of spirit and pure cosmic being, hoping to find illumination by returning to the fundamental order of the cosmos and in the process reconcile physiological training with intellectual speculation. Bringing together the best work of leading scholars in the field, this book provides, for the first time in English, a thorough and easily accessible introduction to this important tradition. The book begins with a a general survey of the body cultivation methods that form the backbone of internal alchemy and an analysis of its understanding of the human body and the terminology it employs. Next, it presents the historical development of the tradition with its major schools and a detailed discussion of key concepts, such as mind, inner nature, and destiny. Following this, presentations focus on specific practices, such as the emergence of the spirit through the top of the head, the activation of internal visions in Thunder Ritual, the sexual comingling of energies in duo-cultivation, and the body visions and transformative techniques employed by women. The volume also contains two contributions on the contemporary application of internal alchemy in China and the West. It concludes with comparative studies on Kundalini Yoga and Hermeticism.Livia Kohn graduated from Bonn University, Germany, in 1980. She then spent six years doing research at the Institute for Research in Humanities of Kyoto University in Japan, after which she joined Boston University as Professor of Religion and East Asian Studies. She has also worked variously as visiting professor and adjunct faculty at Lorand University in Budapest, the Stanford Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Union Institute in Cincinnati, Ohio, and San Francisco State University. She has served on numerous committees and editorial boards, and organized a series of major international conferences on Daoism.We have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality. To get started finding Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

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Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality

Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality

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