A Stairway to Heaven: Daoist Self-Cultivation in Early Modern China

Paul van Enckevort, Ph.D. (2020), Leiden University, is an independent scholar. His publications include “Quanzhen and Longmen Identities in the Works of Wu Shouyang” (2013) and “The Three Treasures: An Enquiry into the Writings of Wu Shouyang” (2014).

Contents


Acknowledgements


Note to Reader


List of Figures and Tables


Abbreviations





Introduction


 1 What This Book Is About


 2 Some Notes on Semantics


 3 Interpretation


 4 Literature Review


 5 What Can Be Expected in the Following Chapters





1 History and Religion


 1 Quanzhen and Longmen


 2 Inner Alchemy





2 An Immortal in the Family


 1 Sources


 2 1574–1593


 3 1593–1612


 4 1612–1644


 5 The Lineage


 6 Miscellaneous Biographical Themes





3 Writing and Publishing


 1 Works, Editions, and Texts


 2 Comparing the Editions


 3 Writing and Publication History





4 The Way of Immortality


 1 The Stages


 2 Refining the Self and Returning to Emptiness


 3 The First Pass


 4 The Middle Pass


 5 The Upper Pass





5 A Stairway to Heaven


 1 Daoist Models


 2 Buddhist Models


 3 Wu Shouyang’s Model of Progress through Cultivation


 4 Wu Shouyang’s Model of Progress through Rebirth





6 An Inversion of Nature


 1 Sexual Reproduction


 2 Restoring Sexual Function


 3 The Bedchamber Arts





7 The Return to Emptiness


 1 The Celestial Immortal as a Celestial Official


 2 The Cosmological and Psychological Return to Emptiness


 3 Daoist Emptiness and Buddhist Nirvāṇa





Conclusion


 1 Wu Shouyang


 2 Inner Alchemy





Appendix 1: Comparing the Three Editions of the Dialogues and Other Texts





Appendix 2: Wu Shouyang’s Writings: an Annotated Bibliography





Appendix 3: Research Note on Exemplar 1





Appendix 4: Research Note on Exemplar 2





Appendix 5: Research Note on Exemplar 3





Appendix 6: Research Note on Exemplar 4





Appendix 7: Longmen Lineage (Zhang-Li-Cao-Wu)





Appendix 8: Wu Family


Bibliography


Index