Daoist Alchemy in the West: The Esoteric Paradigms

East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine 36 (2012) 233-238, 2012

Reviewed work: Fabrizio PREGADIO, Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 2006, (Asian Religions & Cultures). xviii+368 pp., 6 tables, 9 figures; ISBN 0-8047-5177-3 cloth, in: East Asian Science, Technology, and Medicine 36 (2012) 233-238. https://doi.org/10.1163/26669323-03601015

Co-authored with Xun Liu, in David A. Palmer and Xun Liu, eds. Daoism in the Twentieth Century: Between Eternity and Modernity. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 1-22., 2012

For the mainstream of Chinese reformers, modernizers and revolutionaries, as well as for many Western scholars of China, the twentieth century was long seen as the twilight of Chinese religion in general and of its chief institutionalized indigenous form, Daoism, in particular. Dismissed as a crude assortment of superstitions, whatever remained of Daoism after the effects of modernization could only be the exotic remnants of an archaic Chinese past. And yet, as we begin a new century, and secularist ideologies are reevaluated and their utopian promises put into doubt, Daoism appears to be playing an increasingly significant role in a variety of social and cultural developments: as structuring much of the revival of popular religion in contemporary rural China; as providing a trove of symbols, concepts, and practices for the elaboration of new intellectual discourses and cultural movements aiming to revitalize Chinese tradition or to synthesize it with modernity; and as supplying many ingredients to the palette of spiritual and therapeutic resources popular in the West under the rubrics of “alternative medicine” and “Oriental spirituality”.

Journal of Daoist Studies

This paper examines the creation of Daoism in its earliest, pre-Eastern Han period. After an examination of the critical terms "scholar/master" (zi 子) and "author/school" (jia 家), I argue that, given the paucity of evidence, Sima Tan and Liu Xin should be credited with creating this tradition. The body of this article considers the definitions of Daoism given by these two scholars and all of the extant texts that Liu Xin classified as "Daoist." Based on these texts, I then suggest an amended definition of Daoism. In the conclusion, I address the recent claim that the daojia 道家/daojiao 道教 dichotomy is false, speculating that disagreement over this claim arises from context in which Daoism is considered: among the other pre-Qin "schools of thought" or among other world religions. Daoism is of fundamental importance to East Asian intellectual history, its influence pervasive across a broad spectrum of cultural endeavors, from cosmogony and art to politics and health. For two and a half millennia, it has never been far from the collective mind of China's long line of scholars. It would follow, then, that the history of Daoism would more or less be set in stone. But in recent decades some Western scholars have described early, "philosophical" Daoism in rather non-traditional ways that have left some of us puzzled. In this article, I describe the creation of Daoism, while arguing against some modern depictions and insinuations, and for a new definition (albeit based squarely on the old one). My intended audience consists, I hope, of peers, colleagues, and students, with the intention of facilitating a few friendly conversations on this sublime and robust philosophy. Among the great traditions studied in Western academia, I think "philosophical Daoism" has been relatively underappreciated, and still awaits its proper place in our ever-more-globalized

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This bibliography is mainly addressed to students of my courses on Daoism. The earliest version dates from 1998. From time to time I update it, adding new materials and omitting a few of the older ones. The present version contains works dating to 2016.

This article is, to some extent, a continuation of thoughts expressed in a previous article in the Journal of Daoist Studies (Crowe 2010), where motion and stillness were examined as sources of continuity between the “three teachings” as imagined by Li Daochun and his disciples. The present article considers that continuity from a different vantage point, turning the focus on our characterization of the relationship between Ru 儒 (literati) daoxue 道學 (learning of the way) and jindan 金丹 (golden elixir) ways of cultivation. It is suggested here that common ground is found not by bridging two essentially and categorically differing groups, but rather by bringing to light shared perspectives on soteriological ends and on the framing of praxis intended to realize those ends.

The following is, for the purpose of fulfilling remaining requirements at the University of Pennsylvania, divided into two sections:

China Review International, 2007

Until recently there were only a few book chapters and journal articles in English that even breached the subject of the history of Chinese Daoism. Two previous works that attempted to fill the void concerning the history of Daoism were Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (Berkeley: University of California Press, 997) and Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 997). David Yu's translation of volume  of this four-volume work on the history of Daoism is very much welcomed. History of Chinese Daoism contains a table of Chinese dynasties, a preface, an introduction, and four long multisectioned chapters covering the early formative period of Daoism from the Warring States (403-22 b.c.e.) up to the reunification of the empire and founding of the Sui dynasty (58-68). The text also contains a "Glossary of Chinese Characters, " 40 pages of notes, 5 pages of bibliography, and 0 pages of index. Oddly enough the translator did not cite the Chinese title of the original work. He tells us that the History of Chinese Daoism, a four-volume work, is a joint project of faculty members at the Institute of Religious Studies at Sichuan University. The principal author and editor of the Chinese work is Qing Xitai. Other co-authors include Ding Peiren, Ding Yichuang, Zeng Zhaona, Zhan Shichuang, and Zhao Zongcheng. In the introduction, the authors take on three topics, namely, four stages in the historical development of Daoism, the significance of studying the history of Daoism, and their method. They divide the history of Daoism into four stages, which set the topics of the four volumes of the whole work. The first stage marks the period of inception and reform, which is covered in the text of volume I, beginning with Zhang Daoling in the Eastern Han (25-220 c.e.), going through the Wei and Jin dynasties (220-420 c.e.), and ending with the period of political disunion (386-58), commonly referred to as the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties. The second stage is the period of growth and expansion, during the Sui (58-68) and Tang (68-907). The rise of Daoist sects and continued development marks the third stage, covering the Song, Yuan, and early Ming dynasties. The gradual decline of Daoism, the final stage, occurs during the late Ming and the Qing dynasty (644-9). The authors discern four dominant reasons for studying the history of Daoism. First, Daoism impacts and interacts with the political history of China. Second, Daoism borrows from and in turn influences Confucianism and Buddhism. Third, the arts and literature of China are greatly influenced by Daoism. Finally, Chinese science and technology are

Pacific World, 2006

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 2009

This paper is aimed at facilitating the study of Daoism, a collection of Chinese philosophical beliefs and psychospiritual practices with a history of thousands of years and a living community that stretches throughout East Asia, from a transpersonal psychology perspective. Transpersonal psychologists who wish to embark upon a study of Daoist phenomena must first be cognizant of the often nebulous parameters of the Daoist field of inquiry. Therefore, an overview is offered of the two primary Daoist informational sources: the living Daoist tradition as represented predominantly by the Quanzhen and Tianshi traditions, and textual sources in collections such as the Daozang and the Zangwai Daoshu. Some critical issues are highlighted, such as the fact that transpersonal psychologists need to be mindful of various inherent difficulties associated with the study of Daoism (e.g., problems interpreting allegorical and even deliberately encoded texts in the absence of the necessary oral transmissions). Finally, a number of avenues for future research are put forward in the interest of facilitating the transpersonal study of Daoism.