Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China
Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China
Fabrizio Pregadio
Stanford UP, 2006
Hardcover, xviii+368 pp.
ISBN 978-0804751773
This is the first book to examine extensively the religious aspects of Chinese alchemy. Its main focus is the relation of alchemy to the Daoist traditions of the early medieval period (third to sixth centuries). It shows how alchemy contributed to and was tightly integrated into the elaborate body of doctrines and practices that Daoists built at that time, from which Daoism as we know it today evolved. The book also clarifies the origins of Chinese alchemy and the respective roles of alchemy and meditation in self-cultivation practices. It contains full translations of three important medieval texts, all of them accompanied by running commentaries, making available for the first time in English the gist of the early Chinese alchemical corpus.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Conventions
Preface
Introduction
Part One: THE HEAVEN OF GREAT CLARITY AND ITS REVELATIONS
1 The Early History of Chinese Alchemy and the Way of the Great Clarity
2 The Heaven of Great Clarity
3 The Great Clarity Corpus
Part Two: THE ELIXIRS OF THE GREAT CLARITY
4 The Crucible and the Elixir
5 The Ritual Sequence
6 The Medicines of Great Clarity
Part Three: A HISTORY OF THE GREAT CLARITY
7 Gods, Demons, and Elixirs: Alchemy in Fourth-Century Jiangnan
8 The Way of the Great Clarity and Daoism in the Six Dynasties
Part Four: TEXTS OF THE GREAT CLARITY
9 Scripture of The Nine Elixirs
10 Scripture of the Golden Liquor
11 Scripture of the Reverted Elixir in Nine Cycles
Part Five: THE LEGACY OF THE GREAT CLARITY
12 The Later History of Chinese Alchemy and the Decline of the Great Clarity
Appendixes
A Dates of Texts in the Waidan Corpus
B Additional Notes on Great Clarity and Related Texts
C Additional Notes on the Commentary to the Scripture of the Nine Elixirs
Notes
Glossary
Works Quoted
Index