Ressources for Taoist study areas

[Birch]

I'm opening this as a follow on from this post by TaoMoew elsewhere.

 

"Ego is a term of Freudian psychology, and Freudian psychology is one of the most contrived and least fruitful approaches to the human being ever concocted. If you study taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology, it disappears, like all other junk memes replicating mental constructs and abstract ideas with no concrete organ-system-function task in the real world. Everyone who tells you you have an ego is merely making a confession: "I am infected with a Freudian meme, and it commands me to transmit it to you." All you have to do is politely decline the offering with a compassionate thought, "I forgive you, for you are not the one in charge of what you are doing, saying, or thinking.""

 

There are lots of ideas in it. Thank you TaoMeow. However, the one I want to set up here is the "study of taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology".

 

As usual, the bookshelves have the potential to be filled by rubbish because I wouldn't know (although I'm getting better at spotting) an authentic source from a non-authentic one.

 

So could people who know, please suggest books (or even articles) on the topics of taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology that they consider to be "the real deal"?

 

Thanks!

[The Observer]

I'm opening this as a follow on from this post by TaoMoew elsewhere.

 

"Ego is a term of Freudian psychology, and Freudian psychology is one of the most contrived and least fruitful approaches to the human being ever concocted. If you study taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology, it disappears, like all other junk memes replicating mental constructs and abstract ideas with no concrete organ-system-function task in the real world. Everyone who tells you you have an ego is merely making a confession: "I am infected with a Freudian meme, and it commands me to transmit it to you." All you have to do is politely decline the offering with a compassionate thought, "I forgive you, for you are not the one in charge of what you are doing, saying, or thinking.""

 

There are lots of ideas in it. Thank you TaoMeow. However, the one I want to set up here is the "study of taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology".

 

As usual, the bookshelves have the potential to be filled by rubbish because I wouldn't know (although I'm getting better at spotting) an authentic source from a non-authentic one.

 

So could people who know, please suggest books (or even articles) on the topics of taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology that they consider to be "the real deal"?

 

Thanks!

 

I'm about to study from a book called "Chinese Natural Cures" by Henry C. Lu. It gives a brief rundown of various herbal/food remedies for various illnesses as well as a very good rundown of the Taoist understanding of the human anatomy.

 

If it helps, start by learning Taoist anatomy then everything else will make more sense. So far this approach has been helping me (although I've only just begun myself).

[Jetsun]

Modern psychology is pretty good at describing and mapping the early years of human development, Freud was just the beginning it has advanced since then, the problem with it is that it lacks methods to actually help and correct problems which is why many people fall back to using medication. If anyone has any information about Taoist psychology I would be very interested too

[Creation]

Hi Kate.

 

You might find this to be interesting reading.

 

http://www.qigongmedicine.com/catalog.php?act=view_prod_info&id_prod=22155

[Birch]

Thanks Creation!

 

Seems JAJ is a well-reputed source. I wasn't aware that "chakras" were included in Taoist qi-gong. Have they "always" been there or are they a "recent" additon?

[Creation]

I wasn't aware that "chakras" were included in Taoist qi-gong.

They aren't. I'm sure you've noticed that major points on the mco come in front-back pairs, and many are at the same height as chakras. JAJ calls these points the 12 chakra gates. But he doesn't talk about the chakras as yogis do, as energetic structures emanating from the central channel, complete with petals, bindus, correspondences with elements, colors, emotions, etc.

 

Taoists make these same types of correspondences with the 5 zhang fu organs. In a perfect world the chakra system and the organ system would obviously correspond to each other. But, while the ideas about the organs in TCM are very systematized, it seems like everybody says something different about the chakras!

 

If they did correspond, perhaps place on the central channel where the energy of an organ emanates from would be the core/bindu of a chakra, so that the chakra structure and the organ structure would be different emanations from the same root. Then again, there may be no such locations, and I am projecting my ideas about chakras onto zhang fu organs.

 

I wonder.

Edited November 11, 2010 by Creation

[The Way Is Virtue]

So could people who know, please suggest books (or even articles) on the topics of taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology that they consider to be "the real deal"?

Hmm, I don't know what Taoist anatomy, physiology, and psychology would be other than TCM and qigong healing.

Since I don't what those are, my vote is for:

The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine: A New Translation of the Neijing Suwen with Commentary

 

The following is not really directly relevant to your question, but I thought this was interesting anyway:

One Taoist version of the Earth's history has it that long ago the Earth and universe was not the physical realm that it is now; the Earth was a spiritual realm with highly enlightened spiritual beings inhabiting the Earth. These beings rode phoenixes and dragons and lived in crystal palaces and such. Eventually the spiritual Earth realm began to decline and become more physical. Some of the later physical descendants of those spiritual beings were still quite exceptional and still possesed a deep understanding of the inner workings of the spiritual and the physical. The Yellow Emperor was supposed to be one of those descendants. These special descendants were supposed to be the purveyors of early taoist practices and knowledge. The spiritual beings have moved on to other spiritual realms along with creatures like phoenixes, dragons, and unicorns.

Edited November 11, 2010 by The Way Is Virtue