Table of Contents
List of Illustrations and Figures Translators' Preface
Foreword to the English Edition
Introduction
Chronological Table
Chapter 1. General Perspectives
I. The Book, Cosmic Creator and the Alliance with the Gods 1. The Ching Reveals the Laws of the World 2. The Ching as the Foundation of the World 3. The Ching: a Token of Power that Certifies and Enlists Divine Protection
II. Talismans and Invocations: Summoning the Gods Talismans and Invocations: Fu and Chu
III. Auxiliary and Preparatory Exercises
IV. The Figure of the Saint and the Spiritual Hierarchy
V. The Creative Imagination and the Intermediary World
Chapter 2. The Book of the Yellow Court
I. General Introduction
II. Visualization of the Viscera 1. Interior Vision 2. The Viscera as Living Symbols 3. The T'ai-p'ing ching as Predecessor 4. The Huang-t'ing ching: Viscera in the Book of the Yellow Court 5. The Inheritors and the Therapeutic Tendency 6. The Cosmic Dimension of the Viscera 7. The Center of the Body: The Spleen 8. The Fertile Abysses of the Body The Kidneys and the Lower Cinnabar Field The Gate of Destiny, Ming-men The Origin of the Barrier, Kuan-yüan
III. The Circulation of Breath and Essence 1. Breath or Ch'i: Aerial Yang Principle of the Body 2. Essence or Ching: Moist Yin Principle of the Body 3. The Sexual Seed 4. The Nourishing Saliva
IV. Conclusion
Chapter 3. The Book of Great Profundity
I. Introduction
II. The Gods of the Body
III. Unitive Fusion through the Whirlwind 1. Unitive Fusion, Hun-ho 2. The Whirlwind, Hui-feng
Chapter 4. The One, "Preserving the One," and the Three-Ones
I. Unity: Void, Origin, and Chaos
II. Preserving the One, Shou-i
III. The Su-ling ching: The Three and the Nine 1. "Preserving the One," and the Three-Ones 2. The Nine Palaces
IV. The Tz'u-i ching (Scripture of the Feminine One) and the T'ai-tan yin-shu (Secret Book of the Supreme Cinnabar) 1. Tz'u-i, The Feminine One 2. T'ai-i, The Supreme One
Chapter 5. Overcoming Obstacles and the Certainty of the Final Outcome
I. The Embryonic Knots II. The Promise of Immortality
Chapter 6. The Metamorphoses
I Creative Metamorphoses and the Perpetual Mutations of Life II. The Changing Faces of Truth III. Metamorphoses of the Gods IV. Moving and Wandering V. Magical Metamorphoses and Reproduction VI. Metamorphoses of the Taoists VII. Invisibility: Light and Darkness VIII. Liberating Mutation and Blessed Dissolution
Chapter 7. Distant Excursions: Ranging Through the Universe
I. Mystical Flights, Fabulous Excursions, and Spiritual Quests II. Cosmic Exhalations, Fresh Sprouts, and Essential Nourishments III. The Penetrating Gaze; Vision of the Poles, Mountains, and Seas; and the Universe's Homage
Chapter 8. Flight to the Stars
I. The Couple Sun-Moon 1. Meditation Practices: The Sidereal March, Nourishments of Light, and Flight to the Stars 2. The Hierogamic Transposition of Attributes: Alternation and the Coincidence of Opposites 3. The Pivot and the Infinite Center 4. The Bath of Fire and Water; Sovereignty 5. The Nourishment of Light and the Fusion with the Stars
II The Planets and the Bushel 1. Description 2. Meditation Practices: The Mantle of Stars, Heavenly Couch, and the Mesh of the Network 3. The Center Above 4. The Bushel and the Supreme One, T'ai-i 5. The North: Matrix of Transformations 6. The Divided Center: North-South and Death-Life, the Hells, Order and Division 7. The Polar Darkness 8. Gateway and Step; the Dance
Afterword to the English Edition
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Texts Cited
Glossary of Chinese Terms
Glossary of Proper Names
Index