Vital Breath of the Dao

Master Zhongxian Wu, lifelong Daoist practitioner, is the lineage holder of four different schools of qigong and martial arts. In China, he was Director of the Shaanxi Province Association for Somatic Science and the Shaanxi Association for the Research of Daoist Nourishing Life Practices, and in 2001, was recruited by the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon, to help develop their classical Chinese medicine program. Master Wu has written 14 books (5 in Chinese) and numerous articles on the philosophical and historical foundations of China's ancient life sciences. Since 1988, he has instructed thousands of teachers, students, and patients seeking healing, in workshops, courses and training programs offered throughout China, North America, and Europe. For details, please visit www.chinesewisdomtraditions.com.

The first edition of The Vital Breath of the Dao, providing as it did a much richer and more rounded view of the Daoist way than anything hitherto published, was the inspiration for the launch of Singing Dragon. This new edition, refined and expanded, speaks even more clearly of the way in which the Daoist arts of cosmology, language, nature, philosophy, poetry, calligraphy, the way of tea, and shamanic Qigong practice are the ingredients in a way of life accessible to all of us seeking a deeper reality. From both an intellectual and a practical point of view, this book can change your life - it certainly changed mine. These practices improve health, temper the mind and the emotions, and deepen one's spiritual life.

• Introduction. 1. DaoFaZiRan - The Dao Follows its Natural Way. 2. TianWangHuiHui - The Universal Network. 3. DongXiYuanTong - The Pathway of Ying Yang. 4. Xiang - Symbolism. 5. Shu - Numerology. 6. Li - Theory. 7. XiuDaoJieYao - The Dao of Cultivation. Afterword