ABSTRACT
The present chapter continues my in-depth research on Daoist views of “the body.” This includes consideration of Daoist body-maps not only as illustrations of the “Daoist body” but also as visions of human potential and actualization, specifically with respect to psychosomatic experiencing and alchemical embodiment. The chapter begins with a discussion of Chinese and Daoist technical terminology designating “body,” including shen 身 (“body-self”), ti 體 (“physical structure”), and xing 形 (“form”). I then discuss major Daoist corporeal views, including body-as-universe, body-as-country, and body-as-mountain. This is followed by a more detailed exploration of the highly influential, representative, and fascinating Xiuzhen tu 修真圖 (Diagram for Cultivating Perfection), which is most well-known in its late-eighteenth-century expression as a stele housed at Baiyun guan 白雲觀 (White Cloud Temple, Beijing). The Diagram for Cultivating Perfection may be engaged as a material integration and summation of earlier Daoist views and practices. The chapter concludes with a phenomenological psychosomatic account, specifically by using critical subjectivity as expressed through a scholar–practitioner approach (SPA) and critical adherent discourse (CAD). Here I explore the lived alchemical body encountered and actualized through intensive Daoist training, as enacted through inner alchemical (neidan 內丹) meditation.
