History
The Xiuzhen tu text probably dates "from the early 19th century" (Komjathy 2004:53) and exists in several versions, some with variant titles like Xiuzhen quantu 修真全圖 "Cultivation of Perfection Complete Diagram". All editions are associated with the Longmen "Dragon Gate" sect of the Quanzhen school of Daoism. Catherine Despeux (2008:770) lists five extant versions: a stele at the Sanyuan Gong 三元宮 "Three Primes Palace" in Guangzhou (dated 1812); printed versions from the Wudang Mountains (1924 reprint of 1888), Shanghai (1920), and Chengdu (1922); and a version at the White Cloud Temple in Beijing (undated).
The Xiuzhen Tu resembles the better-known Neijing Tu 內經圖 "Inner Pathways Diagram". Both these anatomical charts with Daoist Neidan symbolism derive from the earliest diagrams attributed to Yanluozi 煙蘿子 (fl. 10th century) and conserved in the 1250 CE Xiuzhen shishu 修真十書 "Cultivating Perfection Ten Books" (Kohn 2000:521).
Read more about this topic: Xiuzhen Tu
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“History is more or less bunk. It’s tradition. We don’t want tradition. We want to live in the present and the only history that is worth a tinker’s damn is the history we make today.”
—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“The awareness that health is dependent upon habits that we control makes us the first generation in history that to a large extent determines its own destiny.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)