If you wish to purchase this book at a reduced rate of 33.33$ including shipping/postage, please visit our shop: https://purplecloudinstitute.com/product/the-49-barriers-of-cultivating-the-dao/ The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao is an essential manual for cultivating and refining one's Inner Nature and Inner Character. As such, it is a revelatory guide to the fundamental basis of Internal Alchemy. In the first stage, a person's Inner Nature, their conduct and character, should undergo a tempering process. This lays the foundation for refining one's Life-Destiny, a transformation of one's physical form and ultimately the sublimation of one's body into a Golden Immortal. The 49 Barriers of Cultivating the Dao walk the reader through the obstacles that emerge in this process and give detailed and invaluable advice on how to overcome them. Originating from the Script for Penetrating Through the Barriers, written by Liu Yi Ming in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), this treatise has been edited and revised by the Daoist Master Xing De in order to extract and distil its most profound essence. Accompanying each barrier is an extensive commentary by Xing De. These are frank, humorous, and replete with down to earth and lively examples to clarify the meaning and contemporary relevance of this ancient text. The commentaries are also deeply knowledgeable in Chinese tradition, bridging Daoism with Buddhism, Confucianism and even Christianity, and possess a rare mystical depth stemming from Xing De's long-term practice. The barriers in this treatise symbolize blocked gateways obstructing the students' progress on the Upright Dao. It is as if attempting to clear customs without the right passport. If one believes that one can simply avoid or bypass these checkpoints, one will be stopped and barred from passing through. There are countless trials on the path, and until such time that each barrier is unobstructed and a clear thoroughfare achieved, one must continue to forge ahead with the unwavering faith that it is possible to accomplish in this life. 欲海無邊，法度有緣。 The Sea of Desires is boundless, and the Law delivers those who are predestined. Profound, accessible, and a welcome addition to the Daoist texts now becoming available to Western practitioners. --Bill Porter, author of Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits This is a welcome addition to the literature of the Dao. --Deng Ming-Dao, author of 365 Tao Four people, Liu Yi Ming, Xing De, Johan and Jen, representing generations of lineage, have created an aid to present and future Daoists. May this nourish all those on the path to realization. --Josh Paynter 理文,translator of the Daoist Morning and Evening Altar Recitations