Suchergebnisse

The article is devoted to the problem of the female spiritual path in the Daoist school of Complete Perfection (Quanzhen). The Quanzhen school was famous for actively attracting followers, regardless of gender and social status. One example of lower-class women who converted to Daoism and became abbess of monasteries was the Daoist Tian Xian-gu. For twenty years, she did not comb or wash her hair, collecting it upstairs in a high hairstyle, for which she received the nickname "Celestial Lady with a Hat of Hair" (Fa-guan Xian-gu). Despite the fact that Tian Xian-gu came from a peasant family, thanks to her eccentric appearance and extraordinary abilities, she was worshiped as a saint and a temple was erected in her honor. In memory of her Daoist deeds, the Stele conferring the highest decree [on the monastic abode of the name] "The Palace of Ultimate Perfection and Endless Longevity" (Chi ci Jizhen wanshou gong bei) was installed in it by the Yuan scholar and writer Zhang Yang-hao (1270–1329) which served as the source of this study. The most important mile­stones of her spiritual path, listed on the stele, such as reclusion, begging, asceticism, purification of the heart, are explained through the poetic and prosaic instructions of the first patriarchs of the Quanzhen school. The ques­tions of improving the Daoists nuns in the point of view of the philosophical, religious, social, historical and cultural ideas that existed in the medieval China and had a great influence on the further evolution of Daoism and its institution of monasticism are studied on the example of the female monastic tradition in XIII–XIV centuries.

The article is devoted to the study of the Song of the Great Dao of the Spiritualized Source (Ling yuan da dao ge). This is a work on Daoist "inner alchemy", which describes the process of transforming the spirit and the breath in poetic form. The author of Ling yuan da dao ge was the Daoist nun and poetess Cao Wen-yi (1039–1115). Cao Wen-yi is the only woman-philosopher who wrote a commentary on the Dao De jing, which has survived to this day in the Daoist Canon (Dao zang). Her talents were highly appreciated by Emperor Huizong, who granted her the title "Excellent in Literary Talent" (Wen-yi zhen-ren). The goal of the study is to highlight the most important ideological and theoretical components of the Song of the Great Dao of the Spiritualized Source. As a result of the study, the cultural and historical environment of this work was reconstructed, its earlier list written in prose was identified, the dating of the full version of Ling yuan da dao ge was clarified, and its content features were revealed. The main task of the Song of the Great Dao of the Spiritualized Source is to explain the principle of simultaneous improvement of inner nature and vitality (xing ming shuang xiu). This principle became the main vector of development of Daoist psychophysiological methods, starting from the Song era. Improving the inner nature, according to Cao Wen-yi, is achieved by detaching the heart from feelings and desires. This state is called "no heart" (wu xin) and is the "true heart of the Dao". Improving vitality is achieved through breathing exercises, which should be based on the principles of suchness (zi ran) and non-action (wu wei).

The article is devoted to the problem of studying the history of feminism in China – from the activities of Christian missionaries to Chinese revolutionaries. The prerequisites and stages of the formation of the women's movement for their rights are considered on the example of the book "The Journey to the West" of a Chinese Woman or Feminism in China by Elvira A. Sinetskaya. This book actually presents the first for Russian science study of development of Chinese movement for women rights, as well as constitutes a try to describe its characteristic feature and to place it in the context of world feminism. The author begins from definition such core terms as "feminism", "gender", etc., and then considers the history of feminism beginning in China and possible causes of its appearance. She analyses an attitude to women in traditional Chinese society through the lens of family relationship, society and religion, which is viewed from historical perspective. The study is based on variety of sources, including fiction literature. E.A. Sinetskaya connects the first attempts of Chinese women to obtain equality of rights with spread of Cristianity, but in this paper another point of view on this problem is presented. Then Taoism gave equal rights and possibilities for its progeny regardless of sex and social status. In this religion one can find pantheon of female goddesses, etc. The issues of family and marriage, the right to education, the right to independent earnings and problems with the exercise of their rights by women are being raised in the article, it highlights the connection between the Chinese women's movement and the problem of human freedom