Contents

1. List of Illustrations
2. Acknowledgments
3. Maps
4. Pronunciation Guide
5. Background to Daoism
   1. Shang Ancestors and Divination
   2. The Yijing
   3. Philosophical Schools of Antiquity
   4. The Quest for Long Life

6. PART I Foundations

   1. The Dao That Can't Be Told
      1. Dao and World
      2. The Text of the Daode jing
      3. Laozi and His Legends
      4. The Golden Age
      5. Simplicity and Nonaction
      6. The Sage
      7. Religious Interpretations
   2. At Ease in Perfect Happiness
      1. Ecstatic Oneness
      2. The Book of Zhuangzi
      3. Making All Things Equal
      4. Fasting of the Mind
      5. Dream and Reality
      6. Complete Forgetfulness
      7. Poetic
   3. From Health to Immortality
      1. The Body
      2. Inward Training
      3. Guiding Qi
      4. Healing Exercises
      5. Ways to Immortality
      6. Immortal Legends
   4. Complex Cosmologies
      1. Yin and Yang
      2. The Five Phases
      3. The Calendar
      4. Divine Worlds
      5. Shamanic Encounters

7. PART II Development

   5. Major Schools of the Middle Ages
      1. Celestial Masters
      2. Highest Clarity
      3. Numinous Treasure
      4. The Theocracy
      5. Louguan
      6. The Three Caverns
      7. Tang Integration
   6. Ethics and Communities
      1. Group coherence and millenarian structures
      2. Taboos for self-cultivation
      3. Ritual commandments
      4. The ten precepts
      5. Advanced rules and guidelines
   7. Cosmology and the Pantheon
      1. Creation
      2. The Structure of Heaven
      3. Celestial Signs and Sounds
      4. The Gods
      5. Talismans
      6. Heavens and Hells
      7. Karmic Retribution
   8. Religious Practices
      1. Self-Cultivation
      2. Meditation
      3. Visualization
      4. Ecstatic Excursions
      5. Ritual Activation

8. PART III Expansion

   9. New Schools and Forms
      1. Changes in the Song Dynasty
      2. Heavenly Heart, Divine Empyrean, and others
      3. Complete Perfection
      4. The Celestial Masters
      5. Harmonizing the Three Teachings
      6. Spirit-Writing
   10. Inner Alchemy and the Martial Arts
       1. Historical Overview
       2. Transforming Sexuality
       3. The Immortal Embryo
       4. Celestial Journeys
       5. Health Exercises
       6. Taiji quan
   11. Daoism in Korea and Japan
       1. Early Transmission
       2. Surviving Practices
       3. Cultural Impact

9. PART IV Modernity

   12. Daoism in China Today
       1. The Priesthood
       2. The Life of a Daoist Nun
       3. Qigong and Self-Cultivation
   13. Western Adaptations
       1. Major Centers in the US and Europe
       2. Key Figures
       3. Main Teachings and Practices
       4. Role in Modern Society
   14. Reflections on the Nature and Study of Daoism
       1. Key Characteristics
       2. Early Pioneers
       3. Main Trends in Academic Study
       4. Daoism and Science
10. Appendix I
    1. Chronology of Daoist History
11. Appendix II
    1. The Daoist Canon
    2. Supplements to the Canon
12. Glossary
13. Index