The World Upside Down: Essays on Taoist Internal Alchemy

This book contains four essays on Internal Alchemy (Neidan) by Isabelle Robinet, originally published in French and translated here for the first time into English. The essays are concerned with the alchemical principle of “inversion”; the devices used by the alchemists to “give form to the Formless by the word, and thus manifest the authentic and absolute Dao”; the symbolic function of numbers in Taoism and in Internal Alchemy; and the original meanings of the terms External Elixir (waidan) and Internal Elixir (neidan).Available in paperback, PDF, and Kindle editions.Visit theweb pageon this book for more samples.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements, vii1. The World Upside Down in Taoist Internal Alchemy, 12. The Alchemical Language, or the Effort to Say the Contradictory, 173. Role and Meaning of Numbers in Taoist Cosmology and Alchemy, 454. On the Meaning of the Terms “Waidan” and “Neidan,” 75Tables and Pictures, 103Appendix: Works by Isabelle Robinet, 113Glossary of Chinese Characters, 117Works Quoted, 123