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Fabrizio Pregadio
Fabrizio Pregadio (born January 14, 1957) is a Sinologist and a translator of Chinese language texts into English related to Taoism and Neidan (Internal Alchemy). He is currently affiliated with the International Consortium for Research in the Humanities (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg), and is working on a project on the Taoist Master Liu Yiming (1734-1821) with the support of the German Research Foundation (DFG). Earlier, Pregadio taught at the University of Venice (1996–97), the Technical University of Berlin (1998-2001), Stanford University (2001–08), McGill University in Montreal (2009–10), and the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (2014-18). His research interests are the Taoist views of the human being; the self-cultivation traditions of Taoism; their foundations in early Taoist works; and their relation to Chinese traditional sciences, including cosmology, alchemy, and medicine. Pregadio is the author of ''Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval Chin ...
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Taoism
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' (, 'Thoroughfare'); the ''Tao'' is generally defined as the source of everything and the ultimate principle underlying reality. The ''Tao Te Ching'', a book containing teachings attributed to Laozi (), together with the later Zhuangzi (book), writings of Zhuangzi, are both widely considered the keystone works of Taoism. Taoism teaches about the various disciplines for achieving perfection through self-cultivation. This can be done through the use of Taoist techniques and by becoming one with the unplanned rhythms of the all, called "the way" or "Tao". Taoist ethics vary depending on the particular school, but in general tend to emphasize ''wu wei'' (action without intention), naturalness, simplicity, spontaneity and the ...
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Neidan
Neidan, or internal alchemy (), is an array of esoteric doctrines and physical, mental, and spiritual practices that Taoist initiates use to prolong life and create an immortal spiritual body that would survive after death. Also known as Jindan ( "golden elixir"), inner alchemy combines theories derived from external alchemy (''waidan'' ), correlative cosmology (including the Five Phases), the emblems of the ''Yijing'', and medical theory, with techniques of Taoist meditation, daoyin gymnastics, and sexual hygiene. In Neidan the human body becomes a cauldron (or "ding") in which the Three Treasures of Jing ("Essence"), Qi ("Breath") and Shen ("Spirit") are cultivated for the purpose of improving physical, emotional and mental health, and ultimately returning to the primordial unity of the Tao, i.e., attaining Taoist Immortality. It is believed the '' Xiuzhen Tu'' is such a cultivation map. In China, it is an important form of practice for most schools of Taoism. Terminolo ...
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Liu Yiming
Liu Yiming (1734–1821) was a Chinese ophthalmologist, philosopher, and writer. He was one of the main representatives of Taoist Internal Alchemy, or Neidan. He was an 11th-generation master of one of the northern branches of the Longmen 龍門 (Dragon Gate) lineage, and the author of a large number of works that illustrate his views on both Taoism and Neidan. Life Liu Yiming was born in 1734 in Quwo, Pingyang 平陽 (in present-day Linfen, Shanxi). Before he reached the age of 20, he was severely ill three times (Sun Yongle 2011:302). After recovery, he began to travel, and in 1755 he met his first master, whom he calls the Kangu Laoren 龕谷老人 (Elder of the Kangu Valley). Between 1756 and 1761, he lived in Beijing, and later moved to Henan where he worked as a doctor (Sun Yongle 2011:302). In 1766 he resumed traveling, and around 1768 he met the Xianliu zhangren 遇仙留丈 (Great Man Who Rests in Immortality), who became his main master. As Liu Yiming reports in one ...
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German Research Foundation
The German Research Foundation (german: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft ; DFG ) is a German research funding organization, which functions as a self-governing institution for the promotion of science and research in the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2019, the DFG had a funding budget of €3.3 billion. Function The DFG supports research in science, engineering, and the humanities through a variety of grant programmes, research prizes, and by funding infrastructure. The self-governed organization is based in Bonn and financed by the German states and the federal government of Germany. As of 2017, the organization consists of approximately 100 research universities and other research institutions. The DFG endows various research prizes, including the Leibniz Prize. The Polish-German science award Copernicus Award, Copernicus is offered jointly with the Foundation for Polish Science. According to a 2017 article in ''The Guardian'', the DFG has announced it will publish its re ...
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University Of Venice
Ca' Foscari University of Venice ( it, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, simply Università Ca' Foscari) is a public university in Venice, Italy. Since its foundation in 1868, it has been housed in the Venetian Gothic palace of Ca' Foscari, from which it takes its name. The palace stands on the Grand Canal, between the Rialto and San Marco, in the sestiere of Dorsoduro. Ca' Foscari became a full-fledged university in 1968. It currently has eight departments and almost 21,000 students. Ca' Foscari's teaching and research is centred around economics & business, humanities, and modern languages. In 2017 Ca' Foscari's economics department was ranked as Italy's 3rd best, surpassed by University of Bologna and University of Padua, while it in general ranked of 5th out of 89 universities. History Ca' Foscari was founded as the "Regia Scuola Superiore di Commercio" (Royal High School of Commerce) by a Royal Decree dated 6 August 1868, and teaching commenced in December of the same year ...
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Technical University Of Berlin
The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first German university to adopt the name "Technische Universität" (Technical University). The university alumni and professor list includes several US National Academies members, two National Medal of Science laureates and ten Nobel Prize laureates. TU Berlin is a member of TU9, an incorporated society of the largest and most notable German institutes of technology and of the Top International Managers in Engineering network, which allows for student exchanges between leading engineering schools. It belongs to the Conference of European Schools for Advanced Engineering Education and Research. The TU Berlin is home of two innovation centers designated by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology. The university is labeled ...
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Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considered among the most prestigious universities in the world. Stanford was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Leland Stanford was a U.S. senator and former governor of California who made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students on October 1, 1891, as a coeducational and non-denominational institution. Stanford University struggled financially after the death of Leland Stanford in 1893 and again after much of the campus was damaged by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Following World War II, provost of Stanford Frederick Terman inspired and supported faculty and graduates' entrepreneu ...
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McGill University
McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, 1801–1895.'' McGill-Queen's University Press, 1980. the university bears the name of James McGill, a Scottish merchant whose bequest in 1813 formed the university's precursor, University of McGill College (or simply, McGill College); the name was officially changed to McGill University in 1885. McGill's main campus is on the slope of Mount Royal in downtown Montreal in the borough of Ville-Marie, with a second campus situated in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, west of the main campus on Montreal Island. The university is one of two members of the Association of American Universities located outside the United States, alongside the University of Toronto, and is the only Canadian member of the Glob ...
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University Of Erlangen-Nuremberg
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the designation is reserved for colleges that have a graduate school. The word ''university'' is derived from the Latin ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". The first universities were created in Europe by Catholic Church monks. The University of Bologna (''Università di Bologna''), founded in 1088, is the first university in the sense of: *Being a high degree-awarding institute. *Having independence from the ecclesiastic schools, although conducted by both clergy and non-clergy. *Using the word ''universitas'' (which was coined at its foundation). *Issuing secular and non-secular degrees: grammar, rhetoric, logic, theology, canon law, notarial law.Hunt Janin: "The university ...
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Wuzhen Pian
The ''Wuzhen pian'' () is a 1075 Taoist classic on Neidan-style internal alchemy. Its author Zhang Boduan (張伯端; 987?–1082) was a Song dynasty scholar of the Three teachings (Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism). Author Zhang Boduan, or Zhang Ziyang 張紫陽, was a native of Tiantai 天臺 in present-day Zhejiang. After passing the Imperial examination, he began a career as a civil servant, but was banished to the frontier in Lingnan, where he served as a military commissioner. Zhang was later transferred to Guilin and Chengdu, where in 1069 he allegedly experienced sudden realization from a Taoist master who instructed him in ''Neidan'' internal alchemy. Zhang wrote the ''Wuzhen pian'', its appendices, and a few other texts, including the ''Jindan sibai zi'' 金丹四百字 "Four hundred words on the Golden Elixir". He was additionally an authority on Chan Buddhism. Biographical sources agree that Zhang Boduan died in 1082 CE during the reign of Emperor Shenzong of Song, b ...
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Cantong Qi
The ''Cantong qi'' is deemed to be the earliest book on Taoist alchemy in China. The title has been variously translated as ''Kinship of the Three'', ''Akinness of the Three'', ''Triplex Unity'', ''The Seal of the Unity of the Three'', and in several other ways. The full title of the text is ''Zhouyi cantong qi'', which can be translated as, for example, ''The Kinship of the Three, in Accordance with the Book of Changes''. According to the traditional view, well-established in China, the text was composed by Wei Boyang in the mid-second century CE, and deals entirely with alchemy—in particular, with Neidan, or Internal Alchemy. Besides this one, there has been, within the Taoist tradition, a second way of reading the text: in agreement with its title, the ''Cantong qi'' is concerned not with one, but with three major subjects, namely Cosmology (the system of the ''Book of Changes)'', Taoism (the way of "non-doing"), and Alchemy, and joins them to one another into a single doctr ...
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