The Seal of the Unity of the Three

The Seal of the Unity of the Three
Author: Fabrizio Pregadio
Publisher:
Total Pages: 324
Release: 2011-01-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780984308286

Under an allusive poetical language and thick layers of images and symbols, "The Seal of the Unity of the Three" ("Cantong qi") hides the exposition of the teachings that gave birth to Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. Traditionally attributed to Wei Boyang and dated to about 150 CE, "The Seal of the Unity of the Three" is concerned with three major subjects - Taoism (the way of "non-doing"), Cosmology (the system of the "Book of Changes"), and Alchemy - and joins them to one another into a unique doctrine. The charm of its verses, the depth of its discourse, and its enigmatic language inspired a large number of commentaries and other works, and attracted the attention not only of Taoist masters and adepts, but also of philosophers, cosmologists, and poets. In addition to a complete translation, this book contains a detailed introduction to the history and the teachings of "The Seal of the Unity of the Three," explanations of each of its sections, and notes on its verses. Also included are several tables and pictures, an index of main subjects, and the complete Chinese text.

An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution

An Introduction to the Study of the Law of the Constitution
Author: A.V. Dicey
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 729
Release: 1985-09-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 134917968X

A starting point for the study of the English Constitution and comparative constitutional law, The Law of the Constitution elucidates the guiding principles of the modern constitution of England: the legislative sovereignty of Parliament, the rule of law, and the binding force of unwritten conventions.

On Their Own Terms

On Their Own Terms
Author: Benjamin A. Elman
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 606
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0674036476

In On Their Own Terms, Benjamin A. Elman offers a much-needed synthesis of early Chinese science during the Jesuit period (1600-1800) and the modern sciences as they evolved in China under Protestant influence (1840s-1900). By 1600 Europe was ahead of Asia in producing basic machines, such as clocks, levers, and pulleys, that would be necessary for the mechanization of agriculture and industry. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Elman shows, Europeans still sought from the Chinese their secrets of producing silk, fine textiles, and porcelain, as well as large-scale tea cultivation. Chinese literati borrowed in turn new algebraic notations of Hindu-Arabic origin, Tychonic cosmology, Euclidian geometry, and various computational advances. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, imperial reformers, early Republicans, Guomindang party cadres, and Chinese Communists have all prioritized science and technology. In this book, Elman gives a nuanced account of the ways in which native Chinese science evolved over four centuries, under the influence of both Jesuit and Protestant missionaries. In the end, he argues, the Chinese produced modern science on their own terms.

The Postmodern Condition

The Postmodern Condition
Author: Jean-François Lyotard
Publisher: U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages: 142
Release: 1984
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780816611737

In this book it explores science and technology, makes connections between these epistemic, cultural, and political trends, and develops profound insights into the nature of our postmodernity.

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy

Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
Author: Barrington Moore
Publisher: Beacon Press
Total Pages: 598
Release: 1993-09-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780807050736

This classic work of comparative history explores why some countries have developed as democracies and others as fascist or communist dictatorships Originally published in 1966, this classic text is a comparative survey of some of what Barrington Moore considers the major and most indicative world economies as they evolved out of pre-modern political systems into industrialism. But Moore is not ultimately concerned with explaining economic development so much as exploring why modes of development produced different political forms that managed the transition to industrialism and modernization. Why did one society modernize into a "relatively free," democratic society (by which Moore means England)? Why did others metamorphose into fascist or communist states? His core thesis is that in each country, the relationship between the landlord class and the peasants was a primary influence on the ultimate form of government the society arrived at upon arrival in its modern age. “Throughout the book, there is the constant play of a mind that is scholarly, original, and imbued with the rarest gift of all, a deep sense of human reality . . . This book will influence a whole generation of young American historians and lead them to problems of the greatest significance.” —The New York Review of Books

Awakening to Reality

Awakening to Reality
Author: Fabrizio Pregadio
Publisher: Golden Elixir Press
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2009
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 0984308210

Awakening to Reality (Wuzhen pian) is one of the most important and best-known Taoist alchemical texts. Written in the eleventh century, it describes in a poetical form, and in a typically cryptic and allusive language, several facets of Neidan, or internal alchemy. The present book presents the first part of the text, consisting of sixteen poems, which contain a concise but comprehensive exposition of Neidan. In addition to notes that intend to clarify the meaning of the more obscure points, the book also contains selections from a commentary dating from the late eighteenth century, which is distinguished by the use of a lucid and plain language. ⿿ Fabrizio Pregadio has taught at the University of Venice (1996-97), the Technical University of Berlin (1998-2001), and Stanford University (2001-08). He is the author of Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China (Stanford University Press, 2006) and the editor of The Encyclopedia of Taoism (Routledge, 2008).

The Three Sovereigns Tradition

The Three Sovereigns Tradition
Author: Dominic Emanuel Steavu-Balint
Publisher: Stanford University
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2010
Genre:
ISBN:

This dissertation attempts to elucidate the origins and nature of the lost Sanhuang wen (Writ of the Three Sovereigns), and identify its surviving fragments in the Daoist Canon. Through a close examination of these fragments, this study reconstructs various stages in scripture's transmission and traces its development from a single text to a fourteen-scroll corpus replete with mantic methods, cosmological speculations, and elaborate liturgies. The present study pushes beyond conventional views of the Sanhuang by underscoring the pivotal role of alchemy and meditation alongside talismans as defining components of the tradition. It analyzes key notions, such as "true form" (zhenxing), in the sophisticated conceptual apparatus that governs Sanhuang talismanic, alchemical, and meditative practices. In so doing, this dissertation reveals the profound impact of the Sanhuang wen on the religious landscape of Six Dynasties Jiangnan, and in a larger framework, on the development of Daoism.