This is one of the "lost chapters" intended to appear earlier in the series but was skipped over.Xiaoyao loses his way at evening in the deep mountains, but a chance meeting saves him from a freezing overnight sojourn.The hermit...

This poem from 張伯端 Zhang Bo-Duan (author of the 悟真篇 Wu Zhen Pian: Understanding Reality, one of the most famous classics of Daoist alchemy) was explained by Master Nan during a seven day Zen retreat held in China.心内观心觅本心...

Li Dao-Chun (李道純) was a 13th century Daoist Master in the line of the famous 4th generation Master of the southern Nei Dan lineage, Bai Yuchan.  Li is author of the Zhōng Hé Jí (中和集) translated as The Book of Balance and Harmo...

Bai Yu-Chan (1194-1229?) was a key figure in Southern Song dynasty Daoism and internal alchemy. The following is written as a discussion with his teacher Chen Nan (d. 1213), the fourth patriarch of the Nanzong lineage.Resolving Confusio...

Xiaoyao meets his old friend Ante Babic, who reveals his discovery of a secret system of life training that the Chinese have instituted without anyone taking notice: the institution of Yum Cha (or "Dim Sum").

Liu Yiming was one of the greatest Daoists of the eighteenth century, with numerous writings on all the Daoist classics.He corresponded with numerous disciples and other devout lay people throughout the country, describing in many cases...

Xiaoyao ventures into the Mundus Imaginalis, and finds strangeness, unexpected encounters and … welcome. “Joyful the moment when we sat in the bower, Thou and I;In two forms and two faces—with one soul, Thou and I....

Xiaoyao enters a hidden chamber and witnesses a strange dance, before learning more about "medicine," the gathering of scattered medicine and use of it, and its exoteric and esoteric processes.The "Earth of Attention" (意土 yì tǔ...

Zhuangzi tells the story of Tian Gen who meets the Man without a Name, one who wanders amongst and between the worlds, in a subtle realm with no borders.But how do we know when we have slipped into a subtle realm? There are a few indica...

"Ru zi, ke jiao ye!"The Hermit tests Xiaoyao, who thinks that the Hermit will teach him about locating herbs in the mountains.The Reality, however ....

What ARE the "Perilous Realms," the "Unseen Lands' that Tolkien, Goethe, Coleridge, Wordsworth, C.S. Lewis and Henri Corbin have introduced to Western civilisation over the last century?What is the difference between wooly-headed daydreamin...

The Fat Monk and Xiaoyao visit the Hermit for a quiet talk, but find the Boatman and his friend--who Xiaoyao has never met--already there.Tea is the main topic of the day, but in the course of the discussion, the Fat Monk's peculiar ave...

"Music, Chess, Calligraphy, Painting" are the four arts whcih every refined person should become accomplished in.But "Chess" does not mean Western chess, rather it is the sophisticated--but extremely simple--game of surrounding, known as 圍棋...

Xiaoyao discovers a recently established study group now being conduceted by none other than Xiao Jing, assisted by Ling Ling and other past students from Shi Jie's restaurant.Xiaoyao becomes obsessed with discovering the identity of th...

While setting up a  Calligraphy and Arts exhibition at the  Monastery, the Fat Monk and friends discuss the amazing Fu Qingzhu, heroic anti-Manchu rebel, iconoclastic calligrapher who single-handedly transformed the art of writing as ...

If there is one name every single Chinese person knows, it is Zhuge Liang. Famous for his military strategies employed during the Warring States period, his exploits were immortalised in the Ming dynasty novel Romance of the Thr...

This is a true story.Not "based on a true story." Even the names have not been changed to protect the innocent. Everything happened exactly as described.** Well, except maybe the tall farmer.

A meeting with a stranger in a Hong Kong pub sets Xiaoyao on a path that will involve him in unexplainable occurences.Cook demonstrates the stalk method of divination in using the Yi Jing, and the answer to Xiaoyao's question; ...

Trigrams Mountain to Marsh finishes the discussion on Kǎn (Abyss)  and Lí (Brightness), and then goes on to investigate the last four trigrams Mountain: Gèn (☶), Thunder: Zhèn (☳); Wind: Xùn (☴) and Marsh:...

Xiaoyao returns to the monastery, only to come face-to-face with the new abbot, an imposing figure feared by not-a-few of the monks.Later, he is able to clear up many misconceptions regarding the trigrams Qián (Heaven), Kūn...

How I came to change my mind regarding Thomas Cleary.

Xiaoyao confronts a crucial episode of blanked out memory, in which Shijie provides a detailed examination of chapter two of the Dao De Jing, and Xiaoyao meets the mysterious Master Gu Yan.  Cook explains what he meant by "mea...

Liu Yiming was one of the greatest Daoists of the eighteenth century, with numerous writings on all the Daoist classics.He was afraid however that the world would ignore what he saw as a crucial text for human development, simply becaus...

Xiaoyao uncovers a Tang dynasty poem from Ancestor Lǚ, Lǚ Dōng-Bīn.Cook and the fat monk lay bear the Daoist meanings of an episode in the Journey to the West, in which the daughter of the headman of Gao Lao Zhuang has been imprisoned b...

Xiaoyao visits Shijie's husband, Dr. Jiang, at the famous old Chinese medicine pharmacy across the road from Shijie's restaurant, and asks him an awkward question.Shijie inducts three new members into her Daoist group, and gives them sp...