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Immortelles de la Chine Ancienne:Taoisme et alchimie feminine by Catherine Despeux is only the second book I've ever read in French. It was the most expensive book I bought while we were in Paris but it was well worth it. I really wish an English translation were available as it is easily one of the best books about women Taoists that I've ever read and would highly recommend it. I was pleased that I was able to follow along with most of the book.
The first part was a historical overview of women in Taoism, and in particular their contribution to internal alchemy. This was a particularly interesting and useful part for me. I wish I'd had this book earlier so I could have included more of what was said in my dissertation. She looked at the different women leaders of early Taoism, as well as the role of women priests, and the cults to women deities within Taoism. She focused in on the role of women within Quanzhen Taoism, this is the purely monastic form of Taoism that developed inner alchemy practice and something that I had not previously studied in any detail.
The second part of the book looked at the texts and beliefs of women's inner alchemy, how it different to that practised by men, what texts were written and who wrote them. One thing that I found so surprising was the strong influence and role that women had in this tradition. The Sung dynasty is a notoriously bad time for women, but a small number of them took a very active role in Taoism during this time. They participated in the main (i.e. male) tradition as well as beginning their own separate teachings which continued through the Qing dynasty. One of the things that I touched on in my dissertation was the role of sexuality among women Taoists. It seemed to me that the sexual nature of initiation rites within Taoism led to their position of equality within Taoism. As men and women were required to be initiated together women were given equal status with the men they were initiated with. However it also led to their greater sexualisation, this can be seen in numerous examples of Tang poetry and stories, at the end of the dynasty women living in convents were seen as fair game by the men in their villages, and open to sexual advances. And a close association between Taoist nuns and courtesans became established. (Though this also went back to the time of Empress Wu , one nunnery she favoured was rumoured to be a whore house, so I may be wrong in the idea that this was a progressive change.) After the Tang ordained women dropped from over a third to just 4 percent of all Taoists. With so few participating it was interesting to see that they were still involved in the new movement of Total Perfection, monastic, Taoism and the practices of internal alchemy. It made me want to research this area more thoroughly.
The third part looked at specific practices of internal alchemy, decapitating the red dragon, embryonic breathing and heavenly ascension. I have to say the third part was much harder to read, but then as it was based on rather esoteric texts and was quite detailed and technical. But still very interesting. Most of the texts that survive for these rituals are from the late imperial period, however, it is assumed that the traditions were passed on from the start of the tradition.
All in all a very interesting book, one I'd definitely recommend to anyone interested in women in Taoism. (as long as they can read French.)
The first part was a historical overview of women in Taoism, and in particular their contribution to internal alchemy. This was a particularly interesting and useful part for me. I wish I'd had this book earlier so I could have included more of what was said in my dissertation. She looked at the different women leaders of early Taoism, as well as the role of women priests, and the cults to women deities within Taoism. She focused in on the role of women within Quanzhen Taoism, this is the purely monastic form of Taoism that developed inner alchemy practice and something that I had not previously studied in any detail.
The second part of the book looked at the texts and beliefs of women's inner alchemy, how it different to that practised by men, what texts were written and who wrote them. One thing that I found so surprising was the strong influence and role that women had in this tradition. The Sung dynasty is a notoriously bad time for women, but a small number of them took a very active role in Taoism during this time. They participated in the main (i.e. male) tradition as well as beginning their own separate teachings which continued through the Qing dynasty. One of the things that I touched on in my dissertation was the role of sexuality among women Taoists. It seemed to me that the sexual nature of initiation rites within Taoism led to their position of equality within Taoism. As men and women were required to be initiated together women were given equal status with the men they were initiated with. However it also led to their greater sexualisation, this can be seen in numerous examples of Tang poetry and stories, at the end of the dynasty women living in convents were seen as fair game by the men in their villages, and open to sexual advances. And a close association between Taoist nuns and courtesans became established. (Though this also went back to the time of Empress Wu , one nunnery she favoured was rumoured to be a whore house, so I may be wrong in the idea that this was a progressive change.) After the Tang ordained women dropped from over a third to just 4 percent of all Taoists. With so few participating it was interesting to see that they were still involved in the new movement of Total Perfection, monastic, Taoism and the practices of internal alchemy. It made me want to research this area more thoroughly.
The third part looked at specific practices of internal alchemy, decapitating the red dragon, embryonic breathing and heavenly ascension. I have to say the third part was much harder to read, but then as it was based on rather esoteric texts and was quite detailed and technical. But still very interesting. Most of the texts that survive for these rituals are from the late imperial period, however, it is assumed that the traditions were passed on from the start of the tradition.
All in all a very interesting book, one I'd definitely recommend to anyone interested in women in Taoism. (as long as they can read French.)