Raising Rajas in Hathayoga and Beyond

This article discusses the concept of rajas in the Hathayoga corpus and compares it with material in Ayurveda and Daoism. Rajas is the red blood of menstruation, female sexual fluid, and one aspect of a gendered binary with bindu or semen. In texts deriving from a male celibate context, rajas occurs within male practitioners without the interaction of a woman. In some paradigms of the yogic body, bindu is drawn upwards and preserved alongside rajas using the technique of vajrolimudra, conferring success (siddhi) and immortality (amrta). Women appear infrequently in Hatha texts, but those who preserve their rajas are said to be yoginis. Rajas in Ayurveda functions in embryology as a vital essence, thus explaining its power in Hathayoga. Daoist materials are more detailed and cohesive than Hatha, and female inner alchemy (Nüdan) describes a practice of voluntary amenorrhea, ‘slaying the crimson dragon’—the halting of menstruation. The Daoist model enables an interpretation of the scant Hatha sources to suggest that yoginis who preserve their rajas potentially halt their periods.

REVIEW OF THE BOOK “THE TEACHINGS OF THE PRIMORDIAL LADY SUN BUER: TAOIST TEACHING FOR WOMEN” BY I.V. BELAYA

In the monograph “The Teachings of the Primordial Lady Sun Buer: Taoist Teaching for Women” (Moscow: Ganga, 2020, 352 pp.), I.V. Belaya considers the Taoist female practices of the Quanzhen school, a topic that has not been studied at all in Russian science. Sun Buer is presented both as a historical person and as an object of religious worship. Also, the monograph provides an overview of Taoist writings, one way or another connected with the name of the mentor Sun Buer. An especially valuable part of the book is a complete translation from the classical Chinese written language of the collection of poetic works “Teachings of the Primordial Lady Sun Buer”. It includes “The Feminine Mastery of Inner Alchemy” ( Nü gong nei dan ) and “The Sequence of Mastering the Skill of Female Tao Path” ( Kun dao gong fu ci di ). I.V. Belaya's monograph contains a number of important theoretical provisions related to the study of Taoist “internal alchemy”, in particular, “female alchemy” ( nü dan ) and acquaints the domestic reader with the original Chinese texts on “female alchemy”.

As artes psicofísicas na pedagogia do Antigo Oriente

Esta é uma abordagem psicoantropológica sobre os padrões pedagógicos gerados no contexto cultural do oriente antigo, com base na comparação intercultural e na teoria junguiana da cultura. O objetivo é criar uma referência teórica para a compreensão e a interpretação das concepções pedagógicas ancestrais da humanidade. Supõe-se também que esta base etnográfica possa ser útil à pesquisa de metodologias para a Educação Ambiental e a Ecologia Humana. No texto são abordadas as categorias prático-teóricas que fundamentam a filosofia da educação nesses antigos modelos culturais, tais como: o conceito de tradição, a noção de filosofia prática, de alquimia interior, a experiência estética, a abordagem ética da ecologia e a pedagogia das artes marciais da escola interna. As conclusões remetem a um passo subseqüente, apontando as mediações necessárias para que esses modelos possam contribuir para a construção de pedagogias da mudança cultural, neste momento crítico da sociedade contemporanea. Tal empreendimento é parte de um projeto de pesquisa-ação, onde se testa a eficácia dos princípios pedagógicos estudados, ao mesmo tempo em que se desenvolvem processos formativos das pessoas envolvidas na experiência. Desta forma, pretende-se promover uma reflexão prática sobre ecologia humana e mudança cultural. Abstract This is a psycho-anthropological approach of the pedagogic patterns engendered in the cultural context of the ancient orient. It is based upon intercultural comparison andjunguian theory of culture. The aim is Io offer a theoretical reference for the understanding and interpretation of human 's ancient pedagogic conceptions. It is also supposed that this ethnographic support can help the researches in the field of new methodologies for Ambiental Education and Human Ecology. In the text are presented and described some practical and theoretical categories that support education philosophy in these ancient models, such as: the concept of tradition, the notion of practical philosophy, that of inner alchemy, aesthetic experience, the ethical approach of ecology, and the pedagogy of inner martial arts. The conclusions point out to a further step consisting in the reflection about the needed mediations to the construction of new pedagogies for cultural change, inspired on these ancient patterns, in this critical moment of contemporary society. The field work is part of an action-research enterprise, in which it is tested the efficacy of the models studied, while developping formative processes of people involved in the experience. So it is furthered a practical reflections about human ecology and cultural change. Résumé Ils 'agit d'une approche psycho-anthropologique sur les modeles pédagogiques engendres dans le contexte culturel de l'ancien orient, basée dans une étude comparative interculturelle et dans la théorie junguienne de la culture. Le but de cette étude est de créer un point de référence théorique qui puisse servir à la compréhension et à l'interprétation des conceptions pédagogiques anciennes de l'humanité. A partir de cette base ethnographique il sera peut-être possible de soulever quelques principes méthodologiques pour l'Education Ambientale et l'Ecologie Humaine. Ici on approche les catégories pratiques et théoriques qui sont le fondement de la philosophie de l 'éducation dans ces modèles de la culture orientale ancienne. On se détient sur le concept de tradition, la notion de philosophie pratique, celle d'alchimie intérieure, expérience esthétique, l 'éthique de l'écologie et la pédagogie des arts martiaux d'école interne. Les conclusions présentent des réflexions qui portent à une nouvelle étape qui consistera dans la discussion sur les médiations nécessaires pour établir des pédagogies tournées vers le changement culturel, dam un moment de crise telle que subit la société contemporaine. Cette entreprise fait partie d'un projet de recherche-action où il est mis en pratique les principes pédagogiques étudiés et mesurée son efficacité. L 'experience permet aussi de développer des processus formatifs des personnes qu 'y participent. Cela peut promouvoir une réflexion pratique sur l'écologie humaine et le changement culturel. Resumen Éste es un enfoque psico-antropologi co de los modelos pedagógicos engendrados en el contexto cultural del antiguo oriente. Fundamentase en la comparación intercultural y en la teoría junguiana de la cultura. El objetivo es de criar una referencia teórica para la comprensión y interpretación de las concepciones pedagógicas ancestrales de la humanidad. Se supone además que esta base etnográfica sea de utilidad en las investigaciones acerca de nuevas metodologías para Educación A m bien tal y Ecología Humana. En el texto se presentan y se describen las siguientes categorías práctico-teóricas que fundamentan la filosofía de la educación en estos ancianos modelosculturales: el concepto de tradición, la noción de filosofía práctica, de alquimia interior, la experiencia estética, el enfoque ético de la ecología y la pedagogia de las artes marciales. Las conclusiones apuntan hacia una reflexión subsecuente acerca de las mediaciones necesarias para que estos modelos puedan inspirar la construcción de nuevas pedagogías para el cambio cultural, en este momento crítico de la sociedad contemporánea. El trabajo de campo esparte de una empresa de pesquisaacción en la cual se hace prueba de la eficacia de los principios pedagógicos estudiados, mientras que se desarrollan procesos formativos de las personas envolvidas en la experiencia. De este modo se desarrolla una reflexión práctica acerca de ecologia humana y cambio cultural.

A Novel Explanation for the Prominence of the Peach in Daoist Iconography

This paper draws on chinese folklore, chinese medical theory, chinese materia medica and western ethnobotany and comparative religion to construct a theory of how the common infestation of ganoderma lucidum on peach trees in China would have led to an association of peach trees with immortality, daoist alchemy and the ability to vanquish ghosts and evil spirits. The author goes on to demonstrate how the importance of ganoderma lucidum with regard to immortality, alchemy and exorcism can be understood through an analysis of the pathophysiological basis of ghost haunting and daoist inner alchemy and the corresponding pharmacological benefit that the fungus confers in relation to these pathophysiologies.

Some Wondrous Effects of Inner Calm, as Described and Explained in Yu Yan’s Zhouyi cantong qi fahui

This essay examines what Yu Yan’s Zhouyi cantong qi fahui says about the suspension of breathing and pulse, as well as the extraordinary inner sensations and visions that accompany it. Yu Yan maintains that these things come about by simply bringing body and mind to the depths of stillness; they are not instigated through deliberate procedures such as holding of breath, visualization, incantation, gulping air, swallowing saliva, etc. Through sheer inner calm and single-minded concentration, breathing and pulse are suspended while an inner qi 氣 is generated that surges and circulates the body, bringing forth ravishing sensations and strange visions. Yu Yan explains why the inner qi and the visions come to be generated, and why one should and can disregard the visions. Yu Yan’s descriptions and explanations regarding inner calm and its wondrous effects help shed light on the Neidan (inner alchemy) methods of the major traditions of his time (especially Nanzong and Quanzhen), revealing details that tended to be obscured in abstruse metaphor or reserved for oral transmission.

Occulting the Dao: Daoist Inner Alchemy, French Spiritism, and Vietnamese Colonial Modernity in Caodai Translingual Practice

This article takes the case of the Vietnamese Cao Dai religion to examine how Asian religious leaders and translators, in a context of colonial modernity, invested a European language with their own cosmologies and discourses, building both a national identity and an alternative spiritual universalism. Studies of translation in colonial contexts have tended to focus on the processes and impact of translating European texts and ideas into the languages of the colonized. This article discusses the inverse process, examining how Caodai textual production used French spiritist language and tropes to occult its Chinese roots, translating Daoist cosmology into a universalist and anti-colonial spiritual discourse rooted in Vietnamese nationalism. These shifts are examined through a close examination of translingual practices in the production and translation of the core esoteric scripture of Caodaism, theĐại Thừa Chơn Giáo 大乘真教(The True Teachings of the Great Vehicle), rendered in its 1950 Vietnamese-French edition asThe Bible of the Great Cycle of Esotericism.This study demonstrates how colonial religious institutions and networks of circulation in Asia stimulate the emergence of new movements and textual practices that mimic, invert, jumble, and transcend the cosmologies of both the Chinese imperium and the European colonial regime.