THE
PRIMORDIAL BREATH, Volumes I AND II
A translation of 16
different treatises on Embryonic Breathing, from the Chinese Taoist
Canon, the Tao Tsang
 Blue
whales live one hundred years and more. Seals, dolphins and the giant
turtle enjoy significantly longer life spans when compared to
land-living animals of same size. What these sea animals have in common
is their capacity of controlling the frequency of breathing for
extended periods of time. The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu states that, "the
epitome of virtue is to acquire immortality (Ma Wang Tui Excavation,
Version A, Chapter 42.)" A large part of the 200,000 plus pages
of the ancient (500 BC to 1200 AD) Chinese Taoist Canon, the Tao Tsang,
deals with life prolonging breathing methods, the so called "Embryonic"
or "Primordial Breathing" techniques.
The
body's breathing function has always been regarded, in the most ancient
esoteric teachings, as the very handle to be used to get hold of, or
obtain the control of, one's mind and body.
Translated
for the first time from Chinese, here are the most intelligible and
comprehensive books on breathing control of the Taoist doctrine,
including: a unique commentary revealing the Tao Te Ching as imparting actually arcane breathing
practices, and, also translated here first, the Yellow Court Canon, a
very little known writing attributed to Lao Tzu. The reader will find
fascinating, detailed, objective instructions, written centuries and
centuries ago, from personal experience, on how breathing is to be
trained and refined, on the six different types of exhalations, that
ancient Chinese believed, could cure different ailments and on the
secret Taoist calisthenics or physical exercises that might prolong
life.
A translation of 16 different
treatises on Embryonic Breathing, from the Chinese Taoist Canon, by
Jane Huang in collaboration with Michael Wurmbrand.
THE PRIMORDIAL BREATH, Volume I, $22.50,
1987 by Original Books, Inc., hardback, 8½"
x 5½",
170 pages, 1 lb., ISBN # 0-944558-00-3.
THE PRIMORDIAL BREATH, Volume II, $36.50,
1990 by Original Books, Inc., hardback, 8½"
x 5½",
288 pages, 2 lb., ISBN #
0-944558-01-1.
Readers wrote:
"This is a splendid piece of translation of difficult materials"
"Congratulations on completing this noble piece of work!"
"I have been looking for something like this, but have had no luck."
Quote from The Primordial Breath, Vol. I:
"What the bodily form depends on is breath (ch'i) and what breath relies upon is form. When
the breath is perfect, the form is perfect (too). If breath is
exhausted, then form dies. Therefore, the scholar who nourishes (his)
life refines the form and nourishes (his) breath, so as to nurture his
life. No one has form without breath. Consequently, breath and form
must be accomplished together. Isn't this evident?
"I have been admiring the highest way (TAO) and have been seeking the
secret methods in every possible manner. For over thirty years, I have
been practicing breathing and upholding the original true nature. I was
not satisfied with what I had heard and seen.
"During the years of TA-LI (766-780 A.D.), I met WANG KUNG of the
LO-FOU mountain. He came back from the northern mountains. Riding tall
and leaning against his whip, he looked at me. I wondered about that
unusual person. I induced him to talk. As I expected, he was a superior
adept of the way (TAO). Being moved by my utmost sincerity, he taught
me a couple of important breathing methods for body management.
"Such kindness is boundless. It is beyond the description of any
language. It is said that the important methods of the way (TAO) are
not in books. Instead, they are passed down as oral secret methods. The
methods of ingesting the breath such as those described in ERH-CHING
(the two rays), WU-YA (the five shoots) and LIU-WU (the six wu) deal with the outer breath, which is rigid
and hard. It should not be ingested by those who attend to internal
nourishing. As for the proper inner breath, it is called the Embryonic
Breath. Since it is naturally inside, you do not have to seek outside
for it. If you do not have a good teacher's secret oral method, you
will work long and hard, yet in vain.
"What I have recorded here is the essence (taught by) my teacher along
with (my) extended explanations."
Sung-Shan T'ai
Wu Hsien-Sheng Ch'i
Ching: "A Book on Breath by the
Master Great Nothing of Sung-Shan:" (Tao Tsang, Vol. xxx, p. 856;
Harvard Yenching 569; Wieger
817)
 ONEIROCRITICA
or
THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS
of Artemidorus
Daldianus
(An English translation of the 2nd Century AD
Greek Classic by Robert J. White.)
Oneirocritica is the most
comprehensive, the most sought after and the most quoted book on dream
interpretation, to have been written from antiquity to present times.
This is more than an elaborate dream dictionary. Artemidorus,
a 2nd Century AD "professional" dream-interpreter, tried to impart to his
son, and thus to anyone reading this book today, the basic principles
he followed, to reveal the dreamer's psyche and future.
All human cultures have entertained
the common belief that dream images, like words in a language foreign
to us, have hidden meanings trying to convey the secrets of our
personality or of our future. We are fortunate to have
Professor White's superb, first time, complete translation into English
of this unique work on dream interpretation, coming to us from an early
"professional" of this ancient art. Moreover the translation has been
enriched by Professor White's in depth commentary on the text and on
the vast Greek and Roman culture of Artemidorus'
time.
Artemidorus
writes: "I have not relied upon conjectures here, nor have I
constructed a system of probabilities. My writing is based on personal
experience. I myself have observed, in each occasion, how these dreams
have come true." The extensively revised index pages of this
second edition are designed to be of help to curious readers trying to
make sense of their own dreams. Also, dream subjects or symbols, of
which Artemidorus wrote, have been
highlighted in bold-face by the publisher.
THE INTERPRETATION
OF DREAMS, Oneirocritica by Artemidorus, translation and
commentary by Robert J. White, revised and enlarged 2nd Edition, $36.50, 1990 by Original Books, Inc., hardback, 9" x 6", 344 pages, 2.5lb.,
ISBN
0-944558-03-8.
Brief excerpt
from Oneirocritica of Artemidorus
Daldianus Book I:
"31. Tooth dreams
are open to many different interpretations and have been handled
successfully by very few of the modern dream interpreters. Aristander of Telmessus
has given us the greatest number of valid explanations. They are as
follows: The upper teeth represent the more important and excellent
members of the dreamer's household; the lower, those who are less
important. For we must interpret the mouth as a
house and the teeth as the inhabitants of a house......
"39. The right
side signifies the men; the left side, the women, except for those rare
cases in which a brothel-keeper, for example lodges only women or a
farmer houses only men. For, in these cases, the right side signifies
the older men and women; the left side, the younger. Furthermore, the
so-called incisor teeth or front teeth signify the young; the canine
teeth, the middle-aged; the molars [which some men call (in Greek) gomphioi or grinders], old people. Therefore the
type of person he is to lose is indicated by the type of tooth he loses.
"But since the teeth signify possessions as well as
people, we must regard the grinders as representing treasures; the
canine teeth, as objects of no great value; the incisors, as household
objects. And so it is quite reasonable that some of the teeth, when
they fall out, signify the loss of these possessions.
"40. The teeth, moreover,
also signify the functions of life. Of these, the molars indicate those
that are mysterious and ineffable; the canines, those that are not
known to many; the incisors, the most obvious and those achieved
through speech and voice. And so, when these teeth fall out,
impediments to the functions that correspond to them will follow.
"Let us now indicate the distinctions. If a debtor dreams that any of
his teeth fall out, regardless of their type, it signifies that he will
pay off his debt."
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