光之十一SHIXI LIN
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A Hundred Thousand Questions About the Dao · Cover

Essays on Daoist Culture

A Hundred Thousand Questions About the Dao

Shixi Lin

Starting with a detail in an object, an action, a person, or an institution, these essays follow texts and images to ask how Daoist culture took shape, and how it illuminates the human condition.

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Contents

51 entries
Introduction →

Articles

  1. 01So Even Immortality Has Ranks: What Exactly Are Tianxia, Xianxia, and Jianxia?1,541 words
  2. 02Does Greater Spirituality Mean a Weaker Body? The Spirit Has Gone Ahead, but Life Has Yet to Catch Up1,254 words
  3. 03Why Do Daoist Priests Write Official Documents to the Celestial Court?1,274 words
  4. 04Why Do Gods Dwell in the Body? Another Map of the Human Body in the “Scripture of the Yellow Court”1,442 words
  5. 05Why Does a Daoist Talisman Look Like Neither Writing nor a Picture?1,456 words
  6. 06Why Is a Daoist Talisman Often Burned?1,208 words
  7. 07Deities and Immortals Have Names, So Why Can’t We Call Them Casually?1,414 words
  8. 08Grotto-Heavens and Blessed Lands: Geography or Another World?1,376 words
  9. 09Why Do Daoist Priests Perform Rituals with a Mirror?1,098 words
  10. 10Why Do Daoist Priests Walk on the Stars?1,284 words
  11. 11“Act at Once, in Accordance with the Statutes!”—Who Is Being Ordered?1,006 words
  12. 12How Can a Wooden Sword Cut What Cannot Be Seen?1,026 words
  13. 13Why Do Immortals Need Registration Records Too?1,011 words
  14. 14Why Does a Daoist Priest's Scripture Recitation Sound Like Singing?962 words
  15. 15Who Is the Empty Chair at a Ritual Altar Reserved For?1,041 words
  16. 16Why Would a Daoist Nurture an “Infant” Inside the Body?1,032 words
  17. 17Why Is a Talisman's Most Important Part Called Its “Gallbladder”?1,044 words
  18. 18Do Immortals Have to Undergo Assessments Too?1,153 words
  19. 19Was Lan Caihe Male or Female? Why Did Earlier Writers Never Make It Clear?1,280 words
  20. 20Why Is Zhongli Quan Also Called “Han Zhongli”?1,138 words
  21. 21Why Can We Recognize the Eight Immortals When Not One Appears in the Picture?1,072 words
  22. 22Why Can Zhang Guolao Fold His Donkey into a Box?1,037 words
  23. 23Why Keep a Body with a Limp After Becoming Immortal?1,158 words
  24. 24How Did Eight People from Different Eras Become the Eight Immortals?1,373 words
  25. 25Why Does the Great Emperor Zhenwu Wear His Hair Loose and Go Barefoot?1,393 words
  26. 26When Did Laozi Become the Most High Lord Lao?1,432 words
  27. 27Why Did Wang Chongyang Call His Retreat the “Tomb of the Living Dead”?1,233 words
  28. 28How Did the Queen Mother of the West Go from Tiger Teeth and a Leopard Tail to Head of the Female Immortals?1,511 words
  29. 29Why Can Some Daoist Priests Marry While Others Cannot?1,615 words
  30. 30Why Does Wearing a Ritual Robe Seem Like Wearing the Whole Celestial World?1,173 words
  31. 31Why Did Wu Zetian Ask for Her Transgressions to Be Removed on a Golden Tablet?1,137 words
  32. 32After Pursuing His Enemy for Twelve Years, Why Did Wang Lingguan Become His Disciple?1,052 words
  33. 33Why Was Tao Hongjing Called the “Prime Minister in the Mountains” After Retiring?1,107 words
  34. 34Why Does the Thunder God Have a Bird's Beak and Carry a Hammer?1,105 words
  35. 35Why Was Zhang Lu Not Afraid People Would Take Too Much Roadside Rice and Meat?1,122 words
  36. 36Qiu Chuji Traveled for Two Years—Then Told Genghis Khan There Was “No Drug for Immortality”?1,291 words
  37. 37Why Did the Thought of a Back Scratch from Magu Lead to a Whipping?1,215 words
  38. 38Ge Hong Sought Immortality, but Complained About Costly Medicines When Compiling Remedies1,417 words
  39. 39Fei Changfang Lost a Talisman—and His Life1,412 words
  40. 40Wang Zhi Watched a Go Game, Then Returned Home to Find No One He Knew1,228 words
  41. 41The Emperor Asked Chen Tuan About Making Gold; He Urged Him to Govern the Realm1,456 words
  42. 42Zuo Ci Fished the Bass Cao Cao Wanted from a Bronze Basin1,207 words
  43. 43Duxian Was One Step Away—Then Du Zichun Cried Out1,444 words
  44. 44The “Heavenly Text” in the Ox’s Belly Gave Shaoweng Away1,303 words
  45. 45Guo Pu Said He Would Die That Very Day1,362 words
  46. 46How Did Huang Chuping’s Sheep Become a Mountain of White Stones?1,232 words
  47. 47Xu Xun Pursued a Jiao Dragon into an Ordinary Household1,004 words
  48. 48A Walking Staff Carried Emperor Xuanzong to the Moon983 words
  49. 49A Breakfast at an Inn Turned Its Guests into Donkeys911 words
  50. 50In “The Painted Skin,” the Daoist Caught the Ghost but Could Not Revive the Man1,305 words
  51. 51Liu Yi Delivered a Letter for the Dragon Maiden, Then Refused a Marriage in the Dragon Palace2,046 words

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