“Taking Form in Response to Stimulus”: Recent Publications in Taoist Studies – A Field in Motion

Sammelrezension von KOHN, Livia: A Source Book in Chinese Longevity. St. Petersburg FL: Three Pines Press, 2012; PREGADIO, Fabrizio: The Seal of the Unity of the Three [Vol. 1]: A Study and Translation of the Cantong qi, The Source of the Taoist Way of the Golden Elixir. Mountain View CA: Golden Elixir Press, 2011; PREGADIO, Fabrizio: The Seal of the Unity of the Three. Vol. 2: Bibliographic Studies on the Cantong qi: Commentaries, Essays, and Related Works. Mountain View CA: Golden Elixir Press, 2011 (2012); RAZ, Gil. The Emergence of Daoism: Creation of Tradition. London and New York: Routledge, 2012

Buddhism, Medicine and the Affairs of the Heart: yurvedic Potency Therapy (Vājīkarana) and the Reappraisal of Aphrodisiacs and Love Philters in Medieval Chinese Sources

This article examines how discursive frames modify forms of knowledge and practice. More precisely, it considers the problem of categories in early and medieval Chinese sources through the lens of recipes designed to facilitate intercourse. In pre-Buddhist Chinese sources, such prescriptions traditionally fell either under the rubric of ‘nourishing life’ (yangsheng 養生) longevity practices or spellbinding (zhuzu 祝詛). While recipes that appear in the former bracket—referred to in this study as ‘aphrodisiacs’—were couched in a discourse of healing and classified as a medical undertaking, those associated with spellbinding—referred to as ‘love philters’—were filed under the heading of mantic arts and divination in bibliographic treatises. With the arrival of Āyurvedic medicine in China via Buddhist sources, this partition grew increasingly blurred. Āyurvedic medical taxonomy in general, and its discipline of potency therapy (vājīkarana) in particular, did not distinguish between aphrodisiacs and love philters since both ultimately facilitate intercourse, albeit through different means. The imprint of Āyurvedic categories in China can be ascertained in Buddhist manuscript sources from Dunhuang, but also, more surprisingly, in widely circulated medieval non-Buddhist medical treatises. However, in contrast to the emblematic medical treatises of the middle period and surveyed manuscript Buddhist materials, canonical Buddhist texts appear to have shied away from the topic of aphrodisiacs and upheld the indigenous Chinese understanding of love philters as spellbinding and mantic art

10. Robson, James. The Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue) in Medieval China, 2009

Steavu Dominic. 10. Robson, James. The Power of Place: The Religious Landscape of the Southern Sacred Peak (Nanyue) in Medieval China, 2009. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 17, 2008. Studies in Chinese Art History — Études sur l'histoire de l'art chinois. En hommage à Lothar Ledderose. pp. 347-348

16. Saitō Ryūichi, éd. Dōkyō no bijutsu. Taoism Art, 2009

Steavu Dominic. 16. Saitō Ryūichi, éd. Dōkyō no bijutsu. Taoism Art, 2009. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 17, 2008. Studies in Chinese Art History — Études sur l'histoire de l'art chinois. En hommage à Lothar Ledderose. p. 352

1. Assandri, Friederike. Beyond the Daode jing: Twofold Mystery in Tang Daoism, 2009

Steavu Dominic. 1. Assandri, Friederike. Beyond the Daode jing: Twofold Mystery in Tang Daoism, 2009. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 17, 2008. Studies in Chinese Art History — Études sur l'histoire de l'art chinois. En hommage à Lothar Ledderose. p. 341

17. Sakade Yoshinobu. Dōka dōkyō no shisō to sono hōjutsu no kenkyū [Studies on Daoist thought and its methods and arts], 2009

Steavu Dominic. 17. Sakade Yoshinobu. Dōka dōkyō no shisō to sono hōjutsu no kenkyū [Studies on Daoist thought and its methods and arts], 2009. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 17, 2008. Studies in Chinese Art History — Études sur l'histoire de l'art chinois. En hommage à Lothar Ledderose. p. 353

14. Li Xiaorong. Dunhuang daojiao wenxue yanjiu [Studies in Dunhuang Daoist literature], 2008

Steavu Dominic. 14. Li Xiaorong. Dunhuang daojiao wenxue yanjiu [Studies in Dunhuang Daoist literature], 2008. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 17, 2008. Studies in Chinese Art History — Études sur l'histoire de l'art chinois. En hommage à Lothar Ledderose. pp. 350-351