Customer Reviews

The Jade Emperor's Mind Seal Classic: The Taoist Guide to Health, Longevity, and Immortality

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A very handy little book covering the base concepts of taoist longevety. Not a total guide so much as an introduction to the various methods. Along with the translated classics the authors personal stories are fun and interesting. Some parts the authors background in Buhddism shows but its hardly intrusive.

This is a wonderful book written by an author with both a scholar's understanding of the origins these Taoists classics and a practitioner's insight that these are living growing Taos (paths), not meant to be slavishly copied. I especially applaud his recognition that practicing Taoist techniques with a motivational mindset from Mahayana Buddhism called Bodhichitta, results in a "warmer" type of personal growth then traditional Taoism. Historically, the highest attainments of Taoism were expressed by wild, solitary Taoist hermits with little interest in teaching or passing on their knowledge. Their writings were often intentionally obscure with personal instruction clarifying them nearly unobtainable. Buddhist adepts on the other hand with their commitment to help all sentient beings concentrated on developing clear and obtainable sutra teachings.

Most of the presently available modern Taoists texts come from those sects that combined teachings and philosophies from China's three treasures, Taoism, Ch'an Buddhism and Confucianism, such as the Complete Reality School. I think that Stuart Olson can be seen to be a continuation of these principles; namely that times, places, and conditions change, Taoist practices and teachings do as well, or they are not true Taoism.

You will find in this text the root instructions to begin or deepen a Taoist practice. The criticism that this is not practice manual doesn't follow because there are no practice manuals for Taoism, and there couldn't be. In the many paths of Taoism the practices of ritual, poetry, herbology or martial arts are as important as philosophical study. A Taoist Sage/Adept many practice all of these or none of them... Enjoy this text as if it is advice from a Taoist friend.

The translation of an ancient text and commentaries provided in this book bring forth some invaluable treasures for the attentive readers. Jade Emperor's "Mind Sealing Classic" is probably the most useful short manual of Taoist Alchemy I found after reading many, many books and pursuing the lineage Taoist teachings for years. Every sentence of this short text radiates the deep meaning, while the arrangement of the verses and the words within verses hide the precious internal structure. Olsen does a masterful work in its translation and commentary, opening the initial gate towards the pragmatic integration of the underlying wisdom.

There was obviously a lot of work and heart invested into this book. I am always very grateful when author provides the Chinese original for the old scriptures, as this immensely helps the serious study. I also fully enjoyed the first-hand experiences that author shared with us. The old saying that an ounce of practice is worth the tone of the theory is especially critical in the study of the secrets that mankind has been attempted to solve for millennia. In this domain there are no deterministic or fit-all solutions and so any sincere attempt to reveal the complex mysteries provides a precious new perspective.

It would be difficult to completely relate to all points some researcher would made, based on the own experience, or to fully agree with everything. For instance, I would argue against the author's point that Buddhism has higher moral aspirations than Taoism and would consider that their contribution to the world are just made in a different way and at the different stage of cultivation. However, there is no way for anybody to fully reflect deep and holistic, Pre-Heaven, Truths within the linear, Post-Heaven, timeline and terminology. As mentioned in Tao Te Ching, any term that can be named is not a part of the Eternal Truth. The reality is self-recursive and multi-faceted, rather than fully causal and it is the Intent, a devotion to the Way of Cultivation that counts.

I salute to the author for the dedicated efforts and a contribution he made to bring some great treasures of Tao to us.

Olson's book was not what I hoped - probably, it never meant to be. On the positive side, I found the modern translation of eastern classics that I was looking for. That includes many passages from Ko Hung, a Taoist writer of the fourth century CE, the brief list or alchemical directives from the Jade Emperor, and the "Three Treasures" by T'ien Hsin Chien. All three read smoothly in modern English, and I'm sure that Olson's scholarship and fluency add much that another translator might not have captured.

Olson adds explanatory notes of his own, as so many translators do. Those notes can be especially helpful with especially obscure and esoteric works like these. The original texts often intended to block their meaning from the non-initiate, so the modern, western reader will surely need help in approaching this material, and Olson provides that help.

My problem with this text is that Olson goes far beyond explanation and into side-trips that damage his credibility. At one point, for example, he asserts that "Normally water is just H-2-O, but it can range from H-1-O through H-18-O ...," somehow stabilized by "... a strong magnetic pull on certain portions of the earth ..." He seems to use the words magnetic and magic interchangeably, in this case, and somehow forgets to include references on the topic. Another passage describes a potion that lets fish swim happily in boiling oil. Metaphorical senses for these (and many other) statements elude me, and the literal senses of them simply undermine any good that the book might have offered.

Readers interested in the esoteric content might derive benefit from the book that I can't. I just came for the classics in translation, though. I wanted to enjoy these translations, but Olson's accretions made that impossible for me.

-- wiredweird

I thought this book was very good and well writen. It's a good introduction to the consepts of Taoism. I found the explanations to be more useful and less confusing than some of the other books I have read. If your new to Taoism this is a good book to start with. I would like to add that this is not a how to book and just gives a general idea of Taoist consepts. If your looking for a How to Book I might suggest:
The Tao of Health, Sex & Longevity - By Daniel P. Reid.