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This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.
This is a new release of the original 1928 edition.
1928. This volume contains an investigation concerning the origin
and development of Chinese alchemy, wherein evidence is submitted
for a probable connection between the alchemy of China and that of
medieval Europe.
1928. This volume contains an investigation concerning the origin
and development of Chinese alchemy, wherein evidence is submitted
for a probable connection between the alchemy of China and that of
medieval Europe.
1928. This volume contains an investigation concerning the origin
and development of Chinese alchemy, wherein evidence is submitted
for a probable connection between the alchemy of China and that of
medieval Europe.
Reprint. Paperback.156p. In China as elsewhere, alchemy is a
doctrine aiming to afford an understanding of the principles
underlying the formation and functioning of the cosmos. The
alchemist overcomes the limits of individuality, and ascends to
higher states of being; he becomes, in Chinese terms, a zhenren or
Authentic Man. Chinese alchemy went through a complex and not yet
entirely understood development along its twenty centuries of
documented history. The two main traditions are conventionally
known as waidan or "external alchemy" and neidan or "internal
alchemy." The bulk of the Chinese alchemical sources is found in
the Daozang (Taoist Canon), the largest collection of Taoist texts.
The cosmos as we know it is conceived of as the final stage in a
series of spontaneous transmutations stemming from original
non-existence. This process entails the apparent separation of
primeval Unity into the two complementary principles, yin and yang.
Their re-union generates the cosmos. When the process is completed,
the cosmos is subject to the laws of cosmology. The alchemist's
task is to retrace this process backwards. Alchemy, whether
"external" or "internal," providessupport to the adept, leading one
to the point when, as some texts put it, "Heaven spontaneously
reveals its secrets." Its practice must be performed under the
close supervision of a master, who provides the "oral instructions"
(koujue) necessary to an understanding of the processes that the
adept performs with minerals and metals, or undergoes within
himself. Modern study of the alchemical literature began in the
present century, after the Canon was reprinted and made widely
available in 1926. Johnson's work, originally published in 1928,
remains one of the full book length treatises in English on the
subject.
This volume contains an investigation concerning the origin and
development of Chinese alchemy, wherein evidence is submitted for a
probable connection between the alchemy of China and that of
medieval Europe.
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