Archive for May 2024
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…
Read MoreShamans, 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…
Read More21st May 2024: Birthday of Lü Dongbin
21st May 2024: Birthday of Lü Dongbin According to the Daoist tradition, the Birthday of Founding Ancestor Lü Chunyang (呂純陽祖師聖誕 Lü Chunyang Zushi Shengdan) is observed on the 14th day of the 4th Chinese lunar month which falls on May 21st this year. Below you find described the circumstances of his birth: 初，母就蓐時，異香滿室，天樂浮空。一白鶴自天而下，飛入帳中不見。生而金形木質鶴頂龜背，鳳眼朝天，雙眉入鬢。少聰明，日記萬言，矢口成文。身長八尺二寸，狀類張子房，二十不娶。始在襁褓，馬祖見曰：此兒骨相不凡，自是風塵物外。他時遇廬則居，見鍾則扣。留心記取。後遊廬山遇火龍真人，傳天遁劍法。唐會昌中兩舉進士不第。時年六十四歲，遊長安酒肆，見一羽士青巾白袍，偶書絕句於壁曰:坐臥常攜酒一壺，不教雙眼識皇都。乾坤許大無名姓，疏散人間一丈夫。洞賓訝其狀貌奇古，詩意飄逸，因揖問姓氏。羽士曰：吾雲房先生也，居在終 南鶴嶺。子能從遊乎？ At…
Read MoreExcerpt from Legacy of Chinese Shamanism: The Wu and their Successors
On Wuism in China The wu, from the earliest records available to us from the Shang Dynasty through to the imperial writings, have been associated with a wide sphere of activities that include divination, sorcery, exorcism, rainmaking, medicine and, in its most denigrated and denounced form, what we might call ‘witchcraft’ in the West .…
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