Elaborating Correlation with Space–Time in the Daoist Body: Following and Reversing Nature
This article examines Daoist ritual and meditative practices, primarily developed between the fourth and twelft centuries, as cosmotechniques: methods for engaging, recalibrating, and occasionally overturning the spatial and temporal order. It first outlines the cosmological framework of the pre-Qin...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-07-01
|
| Series: | Religions |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/16/7/890 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | This article examines Daoist ritual and meditative practices, primarily developed between the fourth and twelft centuries, as cosmotechniques: methods for engaging, recalibrating, and occasionally overturning the spatial and temporal order. It first outlines the cosmological framework of the pre-Qin and Qin–Han periods, in which space and time were conceived as correlative and qualitative, forming the grounds of Daoist practice. Daoist foundational practices elaborately aligned with this framework but also introduced subtle disruptions that discover the singular space–time for transformation. Through the investigation of bodily cultivation and communal rituals, this study argues for attention to the performative aspect of Daoist practices, aiming to access and enact alternative space–time, and suggesting a dynamic interplay between alignment and disruption. The study further analyzes internal alchemy and visionary practices that engage in radical reversals of natural rhythms—employing fire, dissolution, and systemic negation to reconfigure cosmic flow. As shown here, Daoist practice is not merely contemplative but performative, reconstituting space–time and body. Though not articulated in ecological terms, such practices demonstrate ways of modeling and modulating lifeworlds attuned to the rhythms of nature—pointing to the possibility of reshaping life under unplugged conditions. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2077-1444 |