The three sovereigns tradition : talismans, elixirs, and meditation in early medieval China
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation attempts to elucidate the origins and nature of the lost Sanhuang wen (Writ of the Three Sovereigns), and identify its surviving fragments in the Daoist Canon. Through a close examination of these fragments, this study reconstructs various stages in scripture's transmission and traces its development from a single text to a fourteen-scroll corpus replete with mantic methods, cosmological speculations, and elaborate liturgies. The present study pushes beyond conventional views of the Sanhuang by underscoring the pivotal role of alchemy and meditation alongside talismans as defining components of the tradition. It analyzes key notions, such as "true form" (zhenxing), in the sophisticated conceptual apparatus that governs Sanhuang talismanic, alchemical, and meditative practices. In so doing, this dissertation reveals the profound impact of the Sanhuang wen on the religious landscape of Six Dynasties Jiangnan, and in a larger framework, on the development of Daoism.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Steavu-Balint, Dominic Emanuel |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Religious Studies |
| Primary advisor | Bielefeldt, Carl |
| Primary advisor | Faure, Bernard |
| Thesis advisor | Bielefeldt, Carl |
| Thesis advisor | Faure, Bernard |
| Thesis advisor | Pregadio, Fabrizio |
| Advisor | Pregadio, Fabrizio |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Dominic Steavu-Balint. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Religious Studies. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Dominic Emanuel Steavu-Balint
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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