The Doctrine of the "Mysterious Female" in Taoism — страница 6

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bliss in the maternal womb of Tao with which he is connected so perfectly-like a foetus and its mother constituting one and the same body. It is quite obvious that myths of this kind (myths of a rather early date, as we have seen), underline the importance of the theme of perfection as a prenatal state for Taoism. They also explain in great part why the authorship of such a basic (though not uniquely basic) text of Taoism was ascribed to the person called Old Infant. (I refer here to the traditional view of Lao-tar as the author of the Tao Te ching.) It is also interesting that the Taoists prefer to interpret the name of Lao-tzu as Old Infant or Old Baby but not as Old Sage. It seems to me that understanding the role and meaning of the prenatal symbolism in Taoism would serve as

a general key to the right insight into the whole system of Taoist thought. Here it is also possible to suggest a hypothesis about the relationship existing between prenatal and perinatal themes and their archetypic images from one side, and different kinds of myths about miraculous conception, which are known to practically every civilization, from another side. It can be suggested that the mythologem of miraculous conception is a manifestation of a subconscious wish to enjoy the synergetic unity with the mother which was attainable during the period of prenatal development. This wish is, in addition, accompanied by the elimination of every (and first of all, fatherly) mediation of this unity. In any case, Taoist materials undoubtedly connect the state of immortality and

perfection with returning to the state of the sage-infant (compare the biblical phrase "If you do not change and become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven" [Matt. 18:3], and the idea of the combination of the wisdom of a snake and the simplicity of a pigeon, the topic developed and explained by St. Paul). This sage-infant of Taoism eternally dwells in the universal womb of the Mysterious Female, Tao as Great Mother of the world, and this womb is isomorphic, but certainly not identical to, the maternal womb in which the embryo enjoys happiness before its birth. Li Erh, Lao-tzu, Eternal Infant of Taoism, the founder of this teaching and the teacher of the kings, age after age appearing on the earth in the name of highest wisdom and highest

simplicity (nonpolished wooden block- p'u, and raw silk-su, are quite common designations of original simplicity as one of the most important values of Taoism. he/she is that paradigmatic figure to which Taoism appeals and calls for identification with. Taoism proclaims that the human body is a microcosm, an "image and likeness" of the macrocosm, the universe. "A man is but small heaven and earth," is an often mentioned Taoist saying. This teaching, extremely important for the Taoist tradition, is also well-known in other religious and philosophical doctrines, in the East as well as in the West, including Christianity, especially in its Gnostic variety (the Russian theologist Father Pavel Florensky considers it to be absolutely orthodox). The Taoists also

evaluate body as the image of the state; the state according to Chinese philosophical concepts is a part of natural, universal integrity. This doctrine of the similarity of the body and the universe is the true foundation of the Taoist practice of "inner alchemy," the aim of which is to produce the so-called elixir of immortality inside the body of an adept from its energies or pneumata which are a microcosmic analogue of the metals and minerals of the outer world. It is obvious that the processes of the body were thought of as analogous to the processes and changes of the outer laboratory, alchemy, the cauldrons of which represented a specific acting model of the macrocosm as well. Strictly speaking, treatises on the inner alchemy (nei tan) tell us about the creation

of a new immortal body of the Taoist which must be created inside the old "corrupted" body. If the process is successitilly finished, a new immortal body replaces the old one. being "born" of the mortal body. For our thesis, it is important that the process of the creation of the new sacred body from the pneumata of the profane one is described in the texts in terms of pregnancy, embryonic development, and birth. The image of the creation of the new perfect body is rather widespread in the religious beliefs of quite different peoples of the world. In Shamanism, for example, it is used in the imitation of death, which is accompanied by contemplation of flesh decay, which is followed by rebirth after the creation from the skeleton (substantial ground of the