Archive for April 2020
Saints & Sages Part III (pt.2): 锺离权 & 吕洞宾 Zhong Li Quan & Lü Dong Bin
Saints & Sages Part III (pt.2) 锺离权 & 吕洞宾 Zhong Li Quan & Lü Dong Bin ___________________________________________________________ 云房因与同憩肆中，云房自为执炊。洞宾忽就枕昏睡，梦以举子赴京，状元及第。始自郎署擢台谏、翰苑、秘阁及诸清要无不备历。两娶富贵家女，生子婚嫁蚤毕，几四十年。又独相十年，极势薰炙。偶被重罪，籍没家资，分散妻孥，流于岭表。一身孑然立马风雪中，方兴浩叹，恍然梦觉。炊尚未熟。 As both [Master] Cloud Chamber and [Lü Dong Bin] were staying together at the tavern, [Master Cloud Chamber] prepared a meal [for both of them]. [Lü] Dong Bin suddenly rested [his head] on a pillow feeling drowsy…
Read MoreTai Shang’s Treatise on Action and Response: Commentary by Xing De
太上感应篇 Tai Shang’s Treatise on Action and Response Commentary by Xing De _________________________________________________ Purple Cloud Institute and Purple Cloud Press are enthusiastically announcing the publication of a small so-called ‘Book of Merits’ [shan shu 善书] entitled Tai Shang’s Treatise on Action and Response: Commentary by Xing De [tai shang gan ying pian 太上感应篇]. It should…
Read More打坐炼静 Sitting Meditation and Stillness Cultivation [excerpt 2]
打坐炼静 Sitting Meditation and Stillness Cultivation [excerpt 2] ______________________ What are the requirements? How should one do it? Why even do sitting meditation and stillness cultivation? In order to do so, one must adhere to the Three Regulations [san tiao 三调]; namely and the regulation of the body [tiao shen调身], the regulation of the breath…
Read MoreSaints & Sages Part X: 劉理航 Liu Li Hang (1901-2002) [excerpt 1]
Saints & Sages Part X: 劉理航 Liu Li Hang (1901-2002) [excerpt 1] ___________________________________________________________ 现在我想把道教培养一部分。继承纯阳的东西。我就把眼睛闭了都可以。现在不能够继承下去。就怕我死掉了以后 纯阳我带着走。这个内丹 没有哪个人能讲的出来。也没有哪个人能做得到 这个内丹功。内丹 它是先天气 后天气 三元，天元 地元 人元。这是我们道教讲的养生 就是内丹。学内丹功夫很难。 Presently, I wish to foster a part of Daoism, by bequeathing the material of Pure Yang. [Having done so,] I will be allowed to close my eyes. Now, I am not capable…
Read MoreDaoism Series 15: 不死方 The Formula of the Undying
Daoism Series 15 不死方 The Formula of the Undying ___________________________________________________________ The term of the Formula of the Undying [bu si fang不死方] appears in the《Rhymed Formula of the Reverted Elixir》[huan dan ge jue 还丹歌诀] by Yuan Yang Zi [元阳子] during the Five Dynasties Period (907-960). 长生药，不死丹，世人欲作寻复难。心犹豫，意迟疑，八丹方法由来有，如何不取一 门知。二人语， 共商量，日夜寻思不死方。若取黑铅并奼女，腾身天上自翱翔。一为左，一为右，阴阳具足还丹就。 真须炼，必长生，逍遥自在紫雲庭。 The medicine for long life, ‘the Elixir…
Read MoreDaoism Series 14 要飯聖人採訪 – Interview with the Beggar Sage
Daoism Series 14 要飯聖人採訪 Interview with the Beggar Sage ___________________________________________________________ 什么是道？ What is the Dao? ________________ 道德经说道不可以说，它无形无相，无情无名，用我们好理解一点的话来说：道就是自然界的规律；也是宇宙之中的规律。大到整个宇宙，宇宙外面的宇宙，外面更远的宇宙，没边；小到原子、分子、质子、夸克；现在不是有一个词叫上帝粒子；还有，里面还有，是叫其大无外，其小无内。不管以任何一种形式它都在道内，有行的，和无形的都在。 The Dao De Jing says that the Dao cannot be named. It is without form and without appearance, without sentiments and without name. To discuss it, let us use a few words only which we understand well. The…
Read MoreSaints & Sages Part IV: 陈抟 Chen Tuan (920 – 989) [excerpt 1]
Saints & Sages Part IV: 陈抟 Chen Tuan (920 – 989) [excerpt 1] ___________________________________________________________- Chen Tuan (ca. 920–989) was also known by the appellation Master Fu Yao [扶搖子], the Elder of the Inaudible and Invisible [xi yi xian sheng希夷先生], and by his style name Tu Nan [圖南]- Diagram’s South. Chen Tuan was most renowned for…
Read More錢本草 Materia Medica of Money
錢本草 Materia Medica of Money _____________________ by Zhang Yue 張說 [1] translated by Allen Tsaur, editor of ‘Explanations of Channels and Points’ and translator of the forthcoming ‘The Complete Compendium of [Zhang] Jingyue, Vol.1-3’ 錢味甘，大熱有毒，偏能駐顏，彩澤流潤，善療饑寒困戹之患，立驗。能利邦國，汙賢達，畏清廉。貪婪者服之，以均平為良，如不均平，則冷熱相激，令人霍亂。其藥采無時，采至非理則傷神。此既流行，能役神靈，通鬼氣。如積而不散，則有水火盜賊之災生；如散而不積，則有饑寒困厄之患至。一積一散謂之道，不以為珍謂之德，取與合宜謂之義，使無非分謂之禮，博施濟眾謂之仁，出不失期謂之信，入不妨己謂之智，以此七術精煉方可。久而服之，令人長壽；若服之非理，則弱誌傷神，切須忌之。 Money – sweet in flavor, very hot [in nature], toxic. It can prevent aging, it animates and moistens the complexion;…
Read MoreChinese Herb Series 02: 蓖麻 Castor Plant
Chinese Herb Series 02: 蓖麻 Castor Plant _____________________________ The following healing methods come from oral transmissions of my teacher Li Shi Fu on White Horse Mountain. [1] Its Qi and flavour are sweet, pungent, neutral, slightly toxic. Generally speaking the plant has the functions of treating athlete’s foot [jiao qi脚气], pain, swelling and numbness of…
Read MoreForeword to Wang Fengyi’s ‘Discourse on Transforming Inner Nature’
Foreword to Wang Fengyi’s ‘Discourse on Transforming Inner Nature’ by Catherine Despeux (author of ‘Women in Daoism’ and ‘Taoism and Self Knowledge’) __________________________________________________________ The text translated here, Discourse on Transforming Inner Nature [hua xing tan 化性談], introduces the reader into the heart of Neo-Confucian thought. The author Wang Fengyi [王凤仪1864–1937] was a Mongol from a…
Read More