Immortal Sisters Secret Teachings of Taoist Women Second Edition

by Cleary, Thomas; Cleary, Thomas

• ISBN13: 9781556432224
• ISBN10: 1556432224
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-11
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

Immortal Sisterspresents life stories and teachings of distinguished female Taoist adepts who lived from the third to twelfth centuries. Among them is the poet and mystic Sun Bu-er, who passed into folklore as one of the famous Seven Immortals and appears as a character in countless popular novels of China. These accomplished women, renowned in their own day and in history, represent a uniquely female heritage of spiritual mastery. Through poems, stories, teachings, and commentaries,Immortal Sisterssheds light on the spiritual methods taught and practiced by these women and illustrates the importance of the feminine in Taoism.

Author Biography

Thomas Cleary is highly regarded as one of the greatest contemporary translators of Asian texts. Among his translations are many classic texts of Buddhism, Taoism, and I Ching studies, including The Essential Tao, Awakening to the Tao, and The Buddhist I Ching. His works have been retranslated into German, Italian, French, Turkish, Hebrew, Spanish, Czech, Thai, Indonesian, Mandarin, and other modern languages.

Table of Contents

Preface
Translator's Introduction
Sun Bu-er
Fourteen Poems
Commentary
Gathering the Mind	p. 7
Nurturing Energy	p. 9
Carrying Out Practice	p. 11
Cutting Off the Dragon	p. 15
Cultivating the Elixir	p. 19
The Womb Breath	p. 22
The Convergence and the Fire	p. 25
Grafting the Medicine	p. 27
Refining the Spirit	p. 31
Ingestion of the Medicine	p. 34
Abstention from Grain	p. 36
Facing a Wall	p. 38
Projecting the Spirit	p. 40
Flying	p. 45
The Secret Texts
Unexcelled True Scripture of Inner Experiences of Jadelike Purity	p. 46
True Scripture on Inner Nourishment of the Embryonic Basis of Jadelike Purity	p. 49
Precious Treatise on Preservation of Unity on the Great Way	p. 53
Poetry of Female Real People: Alchemical Secrets of the Feminine Tao
Wu Cailuan	p. 57
Fan Yunqiao	p. 59
Cui Shaoxuan	p. 63
Tang Guangzhen	p. 67
Zhou Xuanjing	p. 70
Sun Bu-er	p. 74
Spiritual Alchemy for Women	p. 81
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