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The Purple Cloud Institute is dedicated to the dissemination of various forms of traditional Chinese culture including medicine and healing, martial arts, Tai Chi and Qigong, philosophy, spiritual practice and art.
"It is far superior to know that one does not know, as it is a sickness to confuse one's ignorance for knowledge.
Only when one becomes sick of this sickness will one cease to be sick."
Dao De Jing Ch.71
Screen Wall 影壁
Screen Wall 影壁 Also called ‘mirroring/reflecting wall’ (zhaobi照壁), more accurately called ‘shadow wall’. I.e. a defensive barrier to counter poor fengshui conditions, usually erected in front of gateways or doors to shield an entrance in traditional Chinese architecture. There are three types of shadow walls, (1) yi-shaped shadow wall (shaped like the Chinese character for…
Medical Bamboo Slips
Medical Bamboo Slips Medical bamboo slips (yaoqian 药籤) can be seen in temples all throughout Asia. After checking whether the day is auspicious or not, of the slips is picked at random and the number is recorded. This number can be used to either check one’s fortune in a nearby book, or will be used…
Shamans, Physicians, and Wenwu in the Huainanzi’ (Excerpt) by Justin Penoyer
A De-Virtue-Potency by Justin Penoyer (from forthcoming essay ‘Shamans, Physicians, and Wenwu in the Huainanzi’ in Legacy of Chinese Shamanism: The Wu and their Successors from Purple Cloud Press) The second category is total resonance. The Huainanzi asserts that love, the most potent form of empathetic resonance, transcends categorical distinctions (HNZ 10 ). It teaches…
On Death in Fengshui
On Death in Fengshui Student: When a dead person ascends after forty-nine days, does that mean that the qi comes from the physical corpse? Li Shifu(Five Immortals Temple): After forty-nine days the field of that person is gone. It is accumulated and slowly disperses. When you die in your room, but it is not a…
The Duke of Zhou’s Interpretation of Dreams by Nikita Bushin
The Duke of Zhou’s Interpretation of Dreams by Nikita Bushin This two-part translation of the Duke of Zhou’s Interpretation of Dreams (Zhougong jiemeng 周公解夢) is a most welcome addition to the literature on traditional Chinese folklore and its modern legacy. As we know, all humans dream, and all cultures try to make sense of their…
Shamans, Physicians, and Wenwu in the Huainanzi (Excerpt)by Justin Penoyer
De-Virtue-Potency by from the forthcoming chapter ‘Shamans, Physicians, and Wenwu in the Huainanzi’ in Legacy of Chinese Shamanism: The Wu and their Successors from Purple Cloud Press “Potency, a refined form of qi, infuses all things, enabling growth and flourishing, much like water nourishes plants. This material conceptualization of de-virtue is central to the Huangdi…