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Shijie (Daoism)
''Shijie'', ({{zh, t=屍解, s=尸解, p=Shijie, w=shih-chieh, l=corpse release) which has numerous translations such as liberation from the corpse and release by means of a corpse, is an esoteric Daoist technique for an adept to transform into a '' xian'' ("transcendent; immortal"), typically using some bureaucratic ruse to evade the netherworld administrative system of life and death registration. The many varieties of ''shijie'' range from deceitful cases, such as a person feigning death by substituting the corpse of their recently deceased grandfather as their own, to supernatural cases, such as (''jianjie'' 劍解, "sword liberation") using a '' waidan'' alchemical sword to temporarily create a corpse-simulacrum, which enables one to escape and assume a new identity. Terminology Shijie The Chinese term ''shījiě'' compounds the words ''shī'' (尸 or 屍, "corpse; body") and ''jiě'' (解, "separate; divide; cut apart"), and has been described as a "rather strange name" (S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ancestor Veneration In China
Chinese ancestor veneration, also called Chinese ancestor worship, is an aspect of the Chinese traditional religion which revolves around the ritual celebration of the deified ancestors and tutelary deities of people with the same surname organised into lineage societies in ancestral shrines. Ancestors, their ghosts, or spirits, and gods are considered part of "this world". They are neither supernatural (in the sense of being outside nature) nor transcendent in the sense of being beyond nature. The ancestors are humans who have become godly beings, beings who keep their individual identities. For this reason, Chinese religion is founded on veneration of ancestors. Ancestors are believed to be a means of connection to the supreme power of Tian as they are considered embodiments or reproducers of the creative order of Heaven. It is a major aspect of Han Chinese religion, but the custom has also spread to ethnic minority groups. Ancestor veneration is largely focused on male ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Album Of 18 Daoist Paintings - 10
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records collected in a bound book resembling a photograph album; this format evolved after 1948 into single vinyl long-playing (LP) records played at rpm. The album was the dominant form of recorded music expression and consumption from the mid-1960s to the early 21st century, a period known as the album era. Vinyl LPs are still issued, though album sales in the 21st-century have mostly focused on CD and MP3 formats. The 8-track tape was the first tape format widely used alongside vinyl from 1965 until being phased out by 1983 and was gradually supplanted by the cassette tape during the 1970s and early 1980s; the popularity of the cassette reached its peak during the late 1980s, sharply declined during the 1990s and had largely disappeared d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taiping Yulan
The ''Taiping Yulan'', translated as the ''Imperial Reader'' or ''Readings of the Taiping Era'', is a massive Chinese ''leishu'' encyclopedia compiled by a team of scholars from 977 to 983. It was commissioned by the imperial court of the Song dynasty during the first era of the reign of Emperor Taizong. It is divided into 1,000 volumes and 55 sections, which consisted of about 4.7 million Chinese characters. It included citations from about 2,579 different kinds of documents spanning from books, poetry, odes, proverbs, steles to miscellaneous works. After its completion, the Emperor Taizong is said to have finished reading it within a year, going through 3 volumes per day. It is considered one of the ''Four Great Books of Song''. The team who compiled the Taiping Yulan includes: Tang Yue (湯悅), Zhang Wei (張洎), Xu Xuan (徐鉉), Song Bai (宋白), Xu Yongbin (徐用賓), Chen E (陳鄂), Wu Shu (吳淑), Shu Ya (舒雅), Lü Wenzhong (吕文仲), Ruan Sidao (阮� ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zhen'gao
The ''Zhengao'' (真誥, ''Declarations of the Perfected'') written in 499 CE is the Shangqing Taoist patriarch Tao Hongjing's comprehensive collection of poetry and prose from the original "Shangqing revelations", which were supposedly given to the mystic Yang Xi by a group of Taoist '' zhenren'' Perfected Ones from 364 to 370. This classic text has long been famous both as a foundational text of religious Taoism and as a brilliant exemplar of medieval Chinese poetry. History The ''Zhengao'' is a compendium of Shangqing Taoist materials transmitted by the Eastern Jin dynasty scholar and mystic Yang Xi (330-c. 386) and his patrons Xu Mi (許谧, 303-376) and Xu Hui (許翽, 341-c. 370). The large, aristocratic Xu (許) family was from Jurong, Jiangsu, which was the Eastern Jin capital Jiankang (modern Nanjing) from 317 to 420. Following the Xu family tradition of government service, Xu Mi and his son Hui were officials in the court of Emperor Ai, unlike Xu Mi's elder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bianhua
''Bianhua'' meaning "transformation, metamorphosis" was a keyword in both Daoism and Chinese Buddhism. Daoists used ''bianhua'' describing things transforming from one type to another, such as from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Buddhist translators used ''bianhua'' for Sanskrit ''nirmāṇa'' "manifest through transformations", such as the ''nirmāṇa-kaya'' "transformation body" of a Buddha's reincarnations. Terminology In Chinese linguistic morphology, ''biànhuà'' 變化 (lit. "change change") "change (esp. in form or character); variation; transformation; metamorphosis; reincarnation" is categorized as a "synonymic compound" whose parts are synonyms, e.g., ''jiannan'' 艱難 "difficult; hard" compounds ''jian'' 艱 "difficult; arduous" and ''nan'' 難 "difficult; troublesome". For the Old Chinese etymologies, Axel Schuessler has ''bian'' 變 n_his_ca._100_CE_''Shuowen_Jiezi''said_that_it_meant_'to_bring_into_order',_as_in_spinning_or_reeling"._The_modern_character_化 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spontaneous Human Combustion
Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) is the pseudoscientific concept of the combustion of a living (or recently deceased) human body without an apparent external source of ignition. In addition to reported cases, descriptions of the alleged phenomenon appear in literature, and both types have been observed to share common characteristics in terms of circumstances and the remains of the victim. Scientific investigations have attempted to analyze reported instances of SHC and have resulted in hypotheses regarding potential causes and mechanisms, including victim behavior and habits, alcohol consumption and proximity to potential sources of ignition, as well as the behavior of fires that consume melted fats. Natural explanations, as well as unverified natural phenomena, have been proposed to explain reports of SHC. Current scientific consensus is that purported cases of SHC involve overlooked external sources of ignition. Overview "Spontaneous human combustion" refers to the dea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxime Kaltenmark
Max Kaltenmark (11 November 1910 – 26 June 2002) was a French sinologist, of Austrian origin.« Kaltenmark, Maxime - (1910-2002) » '' Encyclopædia universalis''. Between 1949 and 1953, he was director of the "Centre d'études sinologiques de Pékin" of the École française d'Extrême-Orient. He later was directeur d'études at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cao Cao
Cao Cao () (; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde (), was a Chinese statesman, warlord and poet. He was the penultimate grand chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, and he amassed immense power in the dynasty's final years. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao laid the foundations for what became the state of Cao Wei, and he was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Wu of Wei", despite the fact that he never officially proclaimed himself Emperor of China or Son of Heaven. Cao Cao remains a controversial historical figure—he is often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant in literature, but he has also been praised as a brilliant ruler, military genius, and great poet possessing unrivalled charisma, who treated his subordinates like family. During the fall of the Eastern Han dynasty, Cao Cao was able to secure most of northern China—which was at the time the most populated and developed part of China. Cao Cao was also very successfu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jingzhou
Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 based on the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (''or metro'') area comprising two urban districts. Jingzhou's central urban area has grown out of Shashi City and Jingzhou Town (historically also known as Jiangling); their names were preserved in the names of Shashi District and Jingzhou District, which include the city's historical center, as well as Jiangling County, which administers the suburban areas of the larger historical area of Jiangling. The name "Shashi" also remains in the names of a number of local facilities, such as Jingzhou Shashi Airport and a railway freight station. Toponymy The contemporary city of Jingzhou is named after Jingzhou (ancient China), ancient province of the same name, which was one of the nine provinces of ancient China. Said province was named after the nea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zuo Ci
Zuo Ci (), courtesy name Yuanfang, was a legendary personage of the late Eastern Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period (20 BC–280 AD) of China. Though he is known to be from Lujiang Commandery (盧江郡; around present-day Lu'an, Anhui), the years of his birth and death are unknown. It is believed that he had existed before the collapse of the Han dynasty, and it is claimed that he lived until the age of 300. He learned his magic and path to longevity from the Taoist sage Feng Heng (), and eventually passed his arts to Ge Xuan. In historical texts Zuo Ci studied atop Mount Tianzhu, practiced medicinal alchemy and nourished his vital essence by controlled breathing and Taoist sexual practices. It is said that he could live for long periods without eating. He was also learned in the Confucian classics and in astrology. The '' Shenxian zhuan'' (Biographies of Divine Transcendents) says Zuo Ci was expert in ''fenshen'' multilocation, divination, the power of summoning t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apparent Death
Apparent death, colloquially known as playing dead, feigning death, or playing possum, is a behavior in which animals take on the appearance of being dead. It is an immobile state most often triggered by a predatory attack and can be found in a wide range of animals from insects and crustaceans to mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Apparent death is also referred to as thanatosis, animal hypnosis, immobilization catatonia, or tonic immobility, the latter of which is preferred in the scientific literature on the subject. Apparent death is separate from the freezing behavior seen in some animals. Apparent death is a form of animal deception considered to be an anti-predator strategy, but it can also be used as a form of aggressive mimicry. When induced by humans, the state is sometimes colloquially known as animal hypnosis. The earliest written record of "animal hypnosis" dates back to the year 1646 in a report by Athanasius Kircher, in which he subdued chickens. D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
