Facultatea de Litere

18th International Conference on Daoist Studies
Transilvania University, Brașov, Romania, 4-8 June, 2025

Convening in Dracula country, our topic this year is the dark and demonic. It can be explored on three different levels: philosophy, mythology, and practice.
          In terms of philosophy, it invites an exploration of concepts of evil, the shadow side of things, the wayward or heteropathic flows of qi, the destructive effects of intervening in natural processes, the detriments of conscious divisions, emotional excesses, and more.
          On the mythological level, the topic encompasses the study of all sorts of chthonic figures: ghosts and demons, sprites and goblins, the discontented dead (with their sepulchral plaints), supernatural animals, deathbringers in the body, agents of disease, and many more. From early demonologies through extensive Daoist lists of harmful agents to modern ghosts and viruses, negative forces have occupied an important position in the worldview and cosmology of the religion.
          As regards practice, the dark side has given rise to numerous techniques that may be described in five types: ethical, energetic, herbal, magical, and ritual. Thus, good moral behavior can guard against the effects of the deathbringers; there are numerous ways of guiding qi to empower the organs and create a protective shield; plant matter—in particular peach leaves and branches—have strong demon-quelling properties; magical chants, including the calling out of demons’ names, as well as talismans and potent writs can drive out nasty forces; and there are numerous ritual ways to control and subdue dark forces, including evocation, exorcism, and ensigellation, to name a few.
          All these and other related topics deserve much more extensive and in-depth study, which the conference invites to pursue.

ORGANIZERS
Chairs: Livia Kohn, Boston University; Șerban Toader, Transilvania University
Sponsors: Daesoon Academy of Sciences, Three Pines Press

SCHEDULE

Thu, June 5
08:30 Registration                                                        Sat, June 7
09:00 Wecome & Keynotes                                        09:00 Panel 8, Workshop C
10:30 Break                                                                     10:30 Break
11:00 Panel 1                                                                  11:00 Panel 9, Panel 10
12:30 Lunch                                                                     12:30 Lunch
14:00 Panel 2, Panel 3                                                  14:00 Panel 11, Workshop D
15:30 Break                                                                      15:30 Break
16:00 Panel 4, Workshop A                                          16:00 Panel 12 
17:40 Comedy Show                                                      17:45 Concluding Assembly
18:30 Adjourn                                                                   18:00 Joint Dinner

Fri, June 6
09:00 Panel 5, Workshop B                                            LOCATION
10:30 Break                                                                         Plenary Sessions Aula
11:00 Panel 6, Panel 7                                                      Panels listed first Room A
12:30 Lunch                                                                         Other panels/Workshops Room B
13:30 Excursion

In each panel, the first presenter is asked to kindly also serve as chair. First call the meeting to order, then introduce yourself and your topic, set a phone alarm for 17 minutes (so you have 3 minutes left), and deliver your speech. Repeat for the other two panelists, then take questions. Thank you.

KEYNOTES

Christine Mollier
Demonomania in Early Medieval China
In ancient and medieval China, demons were not mere phantasmagoria. Proliferating everywhere, they were believed to take all sorts of forms, to propagate evil, pathologies, and death. Archeological evidence and historical sources demonstrate that, already in the Warring States period (5th-3rd c. B.C.E), the Chinese had mastered the arts of arresting and exorcising them. However, little remains of these original, ancient documents. For more fully developed literature on the topic, one has to turn to the early medieval religious scriptures of Daoism and Buddhism. With the conceptualization of their eschatologies, during the first centuries C.E., numerous demonological manuals were produced, of which I will introduce some of the most representative. Besides appearing as gigantic police files facilitating identification of the dangerous demonic forces, these manuals also provided ritual tools and exorcistic methods to expel or annihilate them.

Rodo Pfister
Why Should the Heart Gibbon Be Tied up?
The Tǐké gē (Songs of the Bodily Husk) is a composite text attributed to a spurious 10th-century figure, Master Yān Luó of the Yàn family. The work unites twenty-five sections, including various poems, body maps, and treatises on various physical features. Human consciousness is seen as problematic by the thought collective that we address heuristically as inner observationists, which becomes clear when looking at metaphors such as "tying up the gibbon heart" and "cleansing the heart." The paper examines medieval attitudes towards gibbons, relating them to the understanding of mind and emotions, referring variously to the body maps of the text.

PANEL 1
DAOISM IN CONTEXT

Friederike Assandri
Between Twofold Mystery, Demonic Temptations, and Underworld Agents of Retribution: Tang Daoist Conceptions of Evil
Cheng Xuanying (7th c. ) offered with his Expository commentary to the ejing an interpretation of the Laozi in line with Daoism of his time and place, which included many originally Buddhist conceptionscoopted by Daoism in the preceding centuries. The most salient feature of Cheng’s philosophy is the integration of Daoist and Buddhist Madhyamaka style analysis of reality as beyond any conceptualizations. If reality is ineffable and beyond any dualistic conceptions – where is there room for evil? While in Daoism, just like in Buddhism, there is no concept of absolute evil, we find in Cheng’s commentary several concepts related to “evil” – some of them referring to external phenomena, some to external agents, and others to afflictions of the mind. The paper will present an analysis of Cheng’s different concepts of phenomena considered evil, contextualizing them also in contemporaneous Daoist scriptures.

Cedric Laurent
The Dark World as drawn under Ming Imperial Patronage in a Manuscript of the Diamond Sutra
The Guimet Museum (Paris) stores an imperial manuscript of the Diamond Sutra (MA 6954) that has never been published. It has been ordered by the Chenghua emperor in 1477 both for his own private devotion and for the propagation of the faith, as written in the afterword. By the number of colourful illustrated stories and the quality of the painting, the manuscript is one of a kind. It undertakes the traditional structure of the illustrated Diamond Sutras, including ritual, but it is not a simple adaption of old patterns to the painting style of Ming court, it definitely renews iconography of death, hell and miracle. On one hand, the Diamond Sutra’s ritual of fast and the faith in “Dark World” and hell is known by popular practice in medieval China, but Guimet’s manuscript allows us to reconsider it in Ming court’s context. On the other hand, woodcarving illustrated Diamond Sutras are also well studied, especially for Song times, but this exemplary reveals a desire for comprehensiveness, compelling and illustrating Dark World’s stories from various sources.

Jan Karlach
Bad Monks, Ghosts, and Spirits in the Borderlands of Cool Mountains: Transversality between Daoism and Nuosu-Yi Indigenous Cosmology in Southwest China
Most indigenous Yi people in Southwest China are believed to be heavily influenced by the dominant Chinese culture, some even over many centuries. However, the Nuosu-Yi of Liangshan, or Cool Mountains, in Sichuan Province are considered “the most authentic among the Yi” due to their geographic isolation. They are thought to have developed largely autochthonous animistic cultural practices, separate from outside influences. This view is shared by Yi indigenous scholars and their non-Yi colleagues from China and abroad. However, analysis of the historical texts and anthropological ethnographic research—especially in the relatively neglected borderlands of the Cool Mountains—reveal a fascinating transversal interaction between Daoist deities, demons, and Fengshui forests on one side, and Nuosu-Yi animism on the other. I argue that this interconnection operated through the infrastructure of the native chieftain system (tusi zhidu) and significantly influenced the formation of Nuosu-Yi exorcist ritual practices and, by extension, the Nuosu-Yi identity itself. Furthermore, this transversality demonstrates the immense flexibility of the amoebic Nuosu-Yi cosmology, which absorbs external influences and quickly translates them for practical use within the context of the Cool Mountains to explain and mitigate everyday nuisances and dangers.

PANEL 2
THE DARK WORLD TODAY

Andreea Chirita
Contemporary Chinese Ecocritical Theatre: Daoist Motives and Aesthetics
Chen Si’an (b. 1986) is a prolific, contemporary Beijing-based Chinese playwright, theatre director, and the director of The Sound and the Fury Theatre Festival. Her theatre work primarily addresses urgent social issues within a naturalistic and documentary-style aesthetic, such as the challenges faced by China’s migrant workers and urban economic inequalities. One of her most audacious and topical plays, Ocean Hotpot (Haishui huoguo, 2019) explores from an ecocritical perspective the question of global warming and how it disproportionally affects the livelihood of people living in marginal, natural environments and, respectively, that of big cities inhabitants. Starting from Rob Nixon’s theory on “slow violence”, according to which, in the context of global warming, urban privileged spaces promote environmental policies that inflict “delayed destruction” on liminal spaces, this study explores Chen’s Daoist vision of nature. The Chinese director uses Daoist natural symbols in constructing a natural landscape which she opposes to a dystopian, apocalyptic world, constructed through grotesque and absurdist metaphors. The study also argues that in Chen’s theatre, her Daoist vision of nature is a feature attributed solely to the underprivileged, isolated and marginal social communities, all victims of global warming and positioned in a continuous conflict with the central, privileged communities embodying Confucian values such as cultural elitism and social hierarchy.

Jakub Otčenášek
Towards a Political Demonology of the New Tianxia
In the so called Chinese School of International Relations, traditional Chinese concepts such as tianxia have been employed to provide inspiration for an alternative way of globalization and world-building in general. Zhao Tingyang related tianxia with specific ontology as well as “political theology.” Xiang Shuchen elaborated on this topic while integrating premodern Chinese narratives of ghosts into the new tianxia thinking to demonstrate the inclusive, cosmopolitan, holistic, and processual nature of Chinese thought. However, once we include the ghosts in the discussion, we need to acknowledge their dark side as well. Barend Ter Haar referred to it as the “Chinese demonological paradigm” and displayed its continuity, spanning from medieval times to the Cultural Revolution. The present article offers a critical reading of Ter Haar’s approach, seeking to generate a viable compromise between two extreme positions: Tianxia based on peace and harmony vs. tianxia based on demonizing and exorcising the Other. If we conceive the new tianxia narratives as a specific “political theology“, demonology should become its integral part.

Ioana Clara Enescu
Dark Daoism and Plant Humanities
Daoism has long been associated with the pursuit of harmony between humanity and the natural world. Integral parts of nature, plants are seen as symbols of balance, growth, and the natural cycles of life, offering insights into Daoism’s focus on simplicity, spontaneity, and the interconnectedness of all things. Exploring the complex relationship between humans and plants from an Environmental Humanities’ perspective, this paper focuses on the darker, more enigmatic side of Daoism, raising awareness on the fact that impermanence and unpredictability define the plant world, just as much as harmony and balance do. Relying on examples from traditional Chinese philosophy, Traditional Chinese Medicine and contemporary Chinese literature, this paper aims is to enrich the emerging field of Plant Humanities with contributions that recognize plant as companion species for human becoming.

PANEL 3
CLASSICAL THOUGHT

Wang Zhongjiang 王中江
“自化”与“欲作“：老子之道的朴与华
(Self-transformation and the Desire to Act: Simplicity and Elegance in Laozi's Dao)
从道之无、一、隐、浑、朴到道之有、多、显、清、器，宇宙在时间之流中的演化、生成，是道的能量分化的过程，是“朴散为器”的过程，是道成肉身的过程，是事物自身获得同一性的过程，是事物不断变化的过程。正是在道的这一无限开放的动态过程中，事物变化的高度“自主性”使自身产生了异质于道的“欲作”，丧失了道的朴实之根而流于华丽之表。为拯救事物沉沦而诊断事物的病态，人借助于道修复事物，使之回归、复归于道，就成为对世界缺陷的重要弥补和补偿。

Cao Feng
曹峰老庄对于“鬼”的认识 (Zhuangzi's Understanding of Ghosts)
春秋战国时代，鬼不能等同于“鬼神”，“鬼神”一般指的是掌管幽暗世界的神祇，是必须正视，无法否定的对象。而“鬼”则类似“怪力乱神”，代表人力所无法控制、会对人产生不良影响的邪力。但鬼的作用有时候也叫作“鬼神”。鬼在现实中对人的生活与心理产生巨大的影响，老庄没有回避这个问题。老庄尊重神，也致力于解决鬼的烦扰。老子认为如果掌握了“道”，就能使“其鬼不神”，让鬼不发
生坏的作用。庄子也一样，强调道的巨大作用，甚至可以让“鬼神服”“其鬼不祟”“无鬼责”。

Jiang Limei
蒋丽梅庄子旦暮之变中的时间哲学 (Zhuangzi's Philsophy of Time and the Changes of Day and Night)
庄书中的“日暮之变”从道家整体观的思维出发，打破人类以空间为标识看待时间的看法，它既正视时间的整体性，亦从宇宙时间的角度提出时间无始无终的问题，从本原叩问时间的本质。庄子从无时间性的视角下提出人类在现实生活中跨越时间的可能，在旦暮、梦觉和生死的线索中提出寻求幽昧道体的意义，并在时间之流中启迪人们的向道之途。

PANEL 4
COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVES

Joseba Estevez
Killing Dragons to Refine the Land of the Ancestors: The Lanten Yao Mun of Laos
Every three years, the Laotian Lanten Yao Mun households host a major Daoist ceremony to honor deities and ancestors. They envision themselves as the living embodiment of ancestors whose names they bear in a five- generation cycle. The Lanten men, after being ordained as priests (daogong) and masters (shigong) incarnate several deities, including the Three Pure Ones and the Three Primordials, the original three priests and three masters, respectively. During this ceremony, the Lanten families provide offerings to the Land of the Ancestors, referred to as Tam Plam Ban Mu (sanpin fenmu), which translates [all] the Graves in the Three Realms. The priests engage in three tiers of ritual action, involving gift dragons, conceptualized as three types of dragons coming from the five directions in various quantities—some of these dragons are slaughtered and their 'blood, flesh, and bones' used to revitalise the ancestral land. Building on a decade of field research (2010-2020), I outline the theoretical framework and rationale behind this ceremony with a particular focus on the ritual action that grants—and sacrifices—dragons.

Konstantinos G. Polymeros
The Evolution of Evil in Laozi: From Abstract Evil to Concrete Demons
This paper attempts to trace ideas about evil in the fundamental work of Daoism, the Dàodéjῑng, in an attempt to reconstruct the system of moral views that Laozi—or whoever composed it—had. In the text, evil seems to be an abstract notion that evolves to comprise more concrete elements, such as the images of battlefields or even evil behaviors described within Laozi’s verses. Although this work does not go through all instances (such an intention would require a whole book to be written), it does attempt to find fundamental examples of evil and illustrate the early Daoist perception of it. Generally, in Laozi’s poem, evil appears in three basic areas: spirits, humans and material world. When it comes to the material world, evil can be seen again either as a manifestation of human activity, or as a more or less inherent element that drives whatever thrived to its necessary demise.

WORKSHOP A

Michael Rinaldini
Qigong Taichi 18 and the Protective Wei Qi Shield
In this workshop, participants will learn a qigong and Taichi form called Qigong Taichi 18. This form consists of 18 qigong movements performed in a Taichi-like flow. The benefits of Qigong Taichi 18 is to activate all the meridians and extraordinary vessels of the body and to boost the immune system. Doing so, the practitioner will produce a protective shield, the Wei Qi shield, around them to ward off the influences of dark and demonic energies.

FOLLOWED BY COMEDY SHOW (AULA 17:40)

Mark Saltveit
Ego Tourism: Daoism in the Wild
A one-person comedy show. What does Daoism -- the ancient, mischievous, and subversive philosophy -- look like in modern Western life? Rule one: Words fail, humor rules.

PANEL 5
TRADITIONAL VISIONS 

Desislava Damyanova
Archetypes of Death in Ancient China
The study of the archetypes of death in ancient China starts with some of the most important tenets of the common religious view and the transformation of the Western archetype after its encounter with the East. In comprehending death, we uncover the finitude of human existence and the limits of philosophy and science. The traditional Chinese funeral ceremony is closely related to the ancestor worship, to mythical beings within the Taoist pantheon or any other deity from the Chinese folklore. The paper also explores the social functions of the East Asian attitudes and shamanistic views regarding the dying process and the afterlife. Daoist archetypes of death combine internal and external alchemy and the belief in the immortals (xian). The end of the study compares the Confucian creative self-transformation toward sagehood with the equality of life and death in the Zhuangzi.

Katerina Gajdosova
Why There Can Be No Evil in Using Qi – A Perspective from Proto-Daoist Texts
The so-called ‘proto-Daoist’ texts—such as Fanwu liuxing, Hengxian, the ‘Daoyuan’ section of the Huangdi sijing, and the ‘Neiye’ chapter of the Guanzi—propose a vision of the cosmos in which human agency is closely entangled with the cosmogonic agency of Dao through the movement of qi, vital energy or life force. They suggest an ontological continuity between the dynamics of greater cosmic processes and individual actions, wherein the agent’s capacity to act is neither separable from, nor sovereign over, the flow of qi. Although the early texts depict qi as ethically neutral, later interpretations—particularly in the contexts of alchemy, medicine, and martial arts—have at times associated the use of qi with potentially harmful or malevolent practices. This presentation explores whether the proto-Daoist conception of agency admits the possibility of a malevolent use of qi, or whether such a notion would constitute an error within the ontological grammar of the tradition. In doing so, it reconsiders what it means to "use" qi, and whether its appropriation is a meaningful concept in a worldview where the self is coextensive with the processes it seeks to direct.

Joel Dietz
The Dark Side of Politics: Metapolitical Interpretations of the Daodejing
Although many new interpreters of the Daodejing qualify as classically liberal or "new age" in their political orientation, other thinkers, notably Julius Evola and Guenon, used the text as foundational for their traditionalist viewpoints. Julius Evola is particularly important in fusing these concepts with Masonry and other forms of Hermeticism and creating an Ur-Fascism which has been politically problematic until this day. This paper will examine the dark and light interpretations side by side along with their implications for metapolitics.

WORKSHOP B

Johan Hausen
Qigong to Boost Immunity
This workshop presents four exercises to boost immunity and clear blood and qi. The first is Xisui gong or Bone Marrow Washing: a breathing exercise, it works to expel the old and let in the new. After that are three main exercises of morning qigong: Chaoshan baiyue or Facing the Mountain, Prostrating to the Moon; Longqi guiyuan or Dragon Qi Returns to the Source; and Baoyuan shouyi: Embracing the Source, Protecting the One. All three move qi along the meridians and take in qi from the heavens, the earth, and the environment. They create or extend the practitioner’s energy field, making it less penetrable to outside forces. The last one—a standing pillar exercise—is a key practice, found in all different qigong traditions.

PANEL 6
ANTI-DEMONIC MODALITIES

Guo Wu 郭武
道教仪式中的“精魅”观念 (The Concept of Sprites in Daoist Ritual)
道教仪式是道士与神灵“沟通”的一种形式，仪式中的道士可以通过奏章、上表、画符、念咒、祈求、命令等不同形式，向不同空间、不同等级的神秘力量发出信息，以期获得理想效果、达到不同目的。道教仪式的各种环节，既涉及崇高天界的诸天尊神、雷府元帅，也涉及为患世间的妖魔鬼怪、魑魅魍魉，还涉及不太显眼的六丁六甲、值符使者等，展现了道教对于宇宙间神秘力量的独特认识。其中，有一类可以称之为“精魅”的力量，既非天界神灵，也非凡间俗物，但却能游走两界、沟通各方，属于古代中国宗教自然崇拜、祖先崇拜、精灵崇拜等观念的遗绪，在道教仪式中占有重要地位。本文尝试对这些道教仪式中的“精魅”力量进行梳理和讨论，以图展现道教丰富的神灵观念，及其对于宇宙世界的认识和理解。
郭武，山东大学饶宗颐宗教与中国文化研究所教授。

Guo Xiaofeng郭晓峰
中华武道与仙道 (Chinese Martial Arts and the Way of Immortality)
武道与仙道作为中华文化中的两大修行体系，分别代表了追求武技极致与精神超脱的不同路径。武道以实战技艺、身体锻炼及意志磨砺为核心，强调“以武入道”，通过外在的武技修炼达到内在的精神升华；而仙道则注重内在的修炼，追求长生久视、羽化登仙，通过炼丹、吐纳、存思等方法实现与自然的和谐统一。本文通过比较武道与仙道的哲学基础、修炼方法及终极目标，探讨二者在实践中的异同与互补性，并分析其在现代社会中的价值与意义。研究发现，武道与仙道虽路径不同，但均体现了东方文化中
“天人合一”的核心理念，为现代人提供了一种平衡身心、超越自我的可能途径。

Zhang Weiwen
章伟文身心“趋衡”的生命哲学初探 (A Preliminary Study of the Idea of Balance between Body and Mind)
道教的生命哲学属于一种性命双修的趋衡论，强调的是人的身心健康与平衡。道教所谓“修身”：旨在使人的身体各项机能趋于平衡、稳定；道教所谓“修心”，是要在保持人的心理平衡基础上，寻求其形上精神境界之超越。人的生命存在绝不仅仅只是肉体器官的功能作用，其同时也是意识、精神的活动展开及心灵、境界的不断升华。故道教的生命哲学不限于只是试图尽可能地延长、保持人的肉体生命，还要从生命体中创造出更高级的精神境界来时时更新自己。这个过程有其变化规律，道教的生命哲学就要探讨、实践这种规律，使人的生命存在得到超越、升华。

PANEL 7
MEDITATION PRACTICE

Livia Kohn
Demonic Attacks in Internal Alchemy
Early sources of internal alchemy, both of the Zhong-Lü system (11th c.) and the Complete Perfection school (13th c.), outline the adept’s progress in various stages, noting a set of nine hardships that prevent proper training in the beginning levels and a series of ten demonic attacks that create major obstacles while the immortal embryo is raised to maturity. They appear as either desirable or abhorrent situations in real life, dreams, or inner observation and center on greed and fear: greed for material goods, well-being, social status, and love and attraction plus fear of hurt, poverty, violence. and death. In all cases, they create strong emotional reactions and distract adepts from the pursuit of cultivation, causing the Three Passes to be closed, the yang spirit to be confused, and the adept to remain trapped in the realm of yin and tied to the earth. The remedy is to remain steadfast in the practice, realizing that all demonic visions are ultimately illusory and transitory, as well as to engage in a vision of incinerating the personal self to eliminate all socially constructed identity and emotional complexes in favor of oneness with Dao.

Dominic Steavu
“Seeing Demons” and “Communicating with Gods”: On Chemical Contemplations in Medieval Daoism
This paper examines a subset of ritual substances in early-medieval and medieval Daoism that were appreciated for their symbolic and/or medicinal value. At the same time, it is undoubtable that Daoist practitioners appreciated such substances for other properties, chiefly psychoactive ones. Thus, derivatives of cannabis flower (mabo; mahua or more commonly, the famed “numinous mushrooms” (lingzhi ) that enabled practitioners to experience divinity in some form or another, under the right ritual circumstances. Accordingly, this paper considers some of these substances in their ritual context, shedding some light on the question, “did Daoists do drugs?”

Silvia Mioc
Protection Against Negative Entities: Aligning the Three Treasures and Connecting to the Light Forces
People are in optimum condition when the Three Treasures of Jing, Qi and Shen are aligned and connected to the light forces of the Universe. This results in our vitality, emotion and wisdom centers operating in harmony so that we are in good health, are grounded, and make inspired decisions and take actions that enhance our lives. According to my Chinese Metaphysics Master, this state provides great protection against negative entities. The presentation will give examples of some of the tools and processes that can be used to achieve it. These tools draw on the Cosmic Trinity realms of Heaven, Human and Earth, as well as the Universe realm. Chinese Astrology, of the Heaven realm, gives awareness about natural tendencies, both good and bad. Feng Shui, of the Earth realm, can help arrange a supportive environment by teaching how to enhance the good energies around and mitigate the bad ones. Both arts play a role in the Human realm at the Jing, Qi and Shen level. Divination methods help connect to the Universe realm. Qigong practices and Qimen Dun Jia tools can be used to harmonize all four realms, to support health, good relationships, and a life of abundance.

PANEL 8
PROTECTIVE MEASURES

Marija Bursać
Talismans in Daoism
Daoists relate to nature through the duality of good and evil. As the presence of malevolent, dark forces can pose a serious threat to human existence, people have developed various methods to defend themselves against such forces. Without a doubt, one of the most prominent ritual practices is the use of talismans to repel these evil entities.Talismans (fu) are stylized characters and sacred symbols that represent a main medium of communication with the unseen world. In the ritual propitiation of divine and demonic forces, their offering takes the place of the blood sacrifices. For the liturgical specialist, they constitute dynamic ritual instruments. In addition, pictures in scriptures serve another fundamental religious purpose: the mental representation of the unseen world for contemplative or evidential purposes, showing, for example, the landscapes of paradises and hells or the likenesses of gods and saints. Overall, Daoists emphasizes the balance of good and evil in the human connection to nature. To protect against malevolent forces, and therefore reducing their destructive effects on people, talismans play a central role in Daoist rituals, serving as powerful tools for communication with the unseen world, offering both spiritual protection and maintaining harmony between humanity and the cosmos.

Radu Bikir
Confronting the Dark Side: Daoist Practitioners and the Perils of the Supernatural in Hong Mai’s Yijian zhi
The Song Dynasty collection Yijian zhi by Hong Mai presents numerous accounts of supernatural encounters, reflecting the complex relationship between Daoist practitioners and the spectral realm. This paper examines two narratives—The Shaman of Linchuan and Taoist Priest Zheng—which illustrate the mortal dangers faced by those who engage with spirits, ghosts, and divine entities. In The Shaman of Linchuan, a renowned spirit-exorcist is ultimately deceived and killed by vengeful ghosts, despite his meticulous precautions against supernatural retaliation. Similarly, Taoist Priest Zheng recounts the fate of a Daoist adept who, wielding the power of the Five Thunder Law, arrogantly summons a thunder god for spectacle and is struck down in divine retribution. These tales underscore the perils of transgressing the boundary between the human and supernatural worlds, revealing the Daoist tension between controlling and respecting unseen forces. 

Abraham Poon
The Fragrant Moral Vastness of Cultivating Bright Shine in the Darkness
Darkness gives people the feeling of fear, ghosts’ appearance, and even death, which are all negative thoughts. The foundation of Daoist philosophy is without right or wrong because human judgment is only the relativity and objectivity of viewpoints and perspectives. It is not the infiniteness, beginninglessness, and supremacy heaven and earth. People cannot know everything, so there is a dark part. People are afraid of death but the image of things may change and it is affected by the laws of nature, from black to white, or from white to black. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish between right or wrong, only principles remain. Cultivation should emerge in a quiet and dark place. The dual cultivation of spirit and body is to break the limitations of life and the nature of wisdom, and then merge from the relativity of yin and yang into the inclusiveness of Tai Chi so as to cultivate and achieve the state of unity with the great Dao, and make the shackles of physical death peel off. “The flower of the heart is blooming, and the whole body is bright and beautiful. The flower of the nature is blooming, and the room is filled with fragrance.” The brightness of the flower in the heart makes the empty room white, breaking the mistiness and the fear of darkness. The fragrant incense leads to carefree, neither birth nor death, neither increase nor decrease, neither existence nor null. The manifestation of cultivation is the fragrance of morality, just like the vastness of Primordial qi, lingering and swirling.

WORKSHOP C

Silvia Mioc
Harmonizing the Three Fields with the Central Channel
People are in optimum condition when the Three Treasures of Jing, Qi and Shen are aligned and connected to the light forces of the Universe. The Three Treasures correspond to the three elixir fields, and the connection to the Universe happens through the Central Channel The workshop will teach participants a practice that uses the Central Channel as the pathway to harmonize the three energetic centers and enhance divine connection.

PANEL 9
GLOBAL DAOISM

Elijah Siegler (with David A. Palmer)
Waking up in Darkness: Dream Trippers Ten Years Later
From 2004 to 2015, David Palmer and Elijah Siegler conducted research on the relationships between Daoist monks in China and Western “Seekers” and scholar-practitioners as they collectively created global Daoism and search for spiritual authenticity. That research resulted in the Dream Trippers (University of Chicago Press, 2017), which focused on three representative protagonists, Chen Yuming, an ordained Quanzhen monk and later urban hermit; Michael Winn, founder of the “New Age’ organization Healing Tao USA and leader of “China Dream Trips;” and Dr. Louis Komjathy, an American Daoist scholar-practitioner. What has happened to these protagonists in the ten years since 2016 (a decade of rising authoritarianism, pandemics, and other global upheavals?) And what does this triple journey say about the difficult road global Daoism has trodden? Our paper will provide fascinating updates on Chen, Winn and Komjathy, each of whose life has undergone unexpected twists. Meanwhile, Dream Trippers itself is on its own journey. Translated into Chinese in 2023, and published as open source, it is currently subject to online debate in mainland China. Our paper will show how its popularity reflects how young Chinese are questioning the role of Daoism in their own culture, as part of a vexed search for authenticity – even as co-author David Palmer has been solicited by Chinese Daoist organizations to advise them on the “internationalization” of Daoism.

Kyuhan Bae
Religious Responses to the Dark World: Traditional Approaches of World Religions and the Practical Ethics of Mutual Beneficence in Daesoon Thought
Contemporary individuals face a range of complex threats, including psychological anxiety, physical illness, moral decline, and social conflict—forces that function as a “dark world” threatening human existence. Daesoon Thought provides a practical doctrinal framework aimed at restoring harmony in the relationships between human and deity, among individuals, between humanity and nature, and between ideals and reality. This study examines how the core teachings of Daesoon Thought—Ansim (Quieting the mind), Anshin (Quieting the body), and Hunhoe (Precepts)—offer a foundational response to these challenges. Ansim calls for the recovery of the true and pure conscience as a means of overcoming inner chaos. Anshin promotes behavior rooted in propriety, righteousness, and moral duty to stabilize and protect the physical self. Hunhoe encourages a life attitude grounded in mutual benefit, guiding individuals toward ethical living and communal harmony. These three teachings respectively correspond to mind, body, and attitude, and together form an integrated system for the holistic restoration of the human being. This paper proposes that Daesoon Thought presents a fundamental and proactive path for confronting dangers arising from the dark world by cultivating an inner and outer balance in both personal and social dimensions.

Anicia O. Sollestre
Nourishing Life as Practiced by Social Development Workers in the Philippines
Traditional Chinese medicine practice that focuses on nurturing and maintaining health has been successfully integrated into the promotion of Philippine integrative medicine. Choreographed by Rene Navarro for Typhoon Haiyan survivors in 2013, its steps draw on Daoist practices, aligned with Philippine culture, making them accessible to Filipino communities as self-care healing approach. They promote individual well-being, collective empowerment, and community resilience. This paper presents a qualitative case study exploring the experiences of social development workers in practicing this modality. As 70% of workers experience prolonged stress that manifests as various health issues, it aims to describe those who incorporate it into self-care routines.Data collected through individual interviews, focus-group discussions, and observations are analyzed descriptively and thematically to highlight the participants’ benefits, including behavioral changes and the evolving perspectives gained during the experience.

PANEL 10
HEALING MODALITIES

Johan Hausen
Demonology: The Origins of Demonological Medicine
An insight into demonological medicine in the Shang Dynasty and Zhou dynasties: This presentation will analyse the term “demon” from textual records such as the earliest dictionaries, including the Erya, Shuowen jiezi and Guangya. It will highlight the earliest stages of demonological medicine in the oracle bone inscriptions in the Shang dynasty and their use to appease malevolent ancestors as well as ghosts of a more personalized type, whereas the exorcistic medicine of the Zhou dynasty was often aimed at ghosts from violent death of impersonalized nature. It will further look at the Mawangdui dig texts and its repercussion of exorcism for medicinal applications and modalities. It also warrants merit to jump forward in time to the Ming Dynasty Materia Medica of Li Shizhen and to investigate how three herbs, Guiduyou, Guijian, Guitao, all containing the word gui (ghost), relate to exorcistic techniques.

Cho-chiong Tan
Daoism and Mental Health
Daoism, an ancient Chinese philosophical and spiritual tradition, plays a very important role in a person’s mental health and well being. It emphasizes living in harmony with Dao and encourages adaptability, spontaneity, and a deep connection to nature. Nonaction emphasizes promoting acceptance, mindfulness, and an stress-free approach in the management of anxiety and depression. Resistance causes suffering, whereas embracing life's natural flow
& leads to peace. Many of life's struggles arise when we fight against circumstances rather than adapting to them. Letting go of rigid expectations and allowing situations to unfold organically, we reduce anxiety and cultivate inner calm.Qigong and mindfulness meditation play important roles in emotional well being and treatment of anxiety and depression. Scientific and clinical correlations (neuroimaging and neurotransmission studies, etc.) of Daoistic practices and mental heath will be presented.

Mark Saltveit
Can There Be Such a Thing as a Dao of Evil
Zhuang-Lao thought is famously agnostic on questions of good and evil, or at least less ham-fisted about a binary dualism between the two than other philosophies and religions. But is there a limit? Could there be such a thing as a Nazi Dao? What can recent news events tell us about this question? And what can we do about it?

PANEL 11
DEMONIC ETIOLOGY

Eric Hoogcarspel
When the Flesh Becomes Meat
First I will describe the execution method of lìngchì and its history. It was considered an extreme case of cruelty in the West, although Western methods were no less cruel not more than a century before. Unlike in the West there has always been a lively opposition to this kind of cruelty in China. I will show that it is a transgression in order to solve another intolerable transgression. After this I will describe two other related transgressions: blood writing and slicing ones own flesh in order to cure a close relative. Finally I will argue that these transgressions are only possible because of an underlying concrete and fleshy unity: the dào.

Rene Goris
Zhang Sanfeng's Alchemy and Its Control of Good and Evil
Based on The Yunji qijian encyclopedia of the 11th century adresses many aspects of Daoist practices, medicine, astrology and talismanic writing.. Chapter 15 concerns the weft of the three caverns and commentaries, which I relate to Chinese medical training, thereby to measure the differences between TCM and Daoist medicine. I show some strong missing aspects of Chinese medicine, bridging the fields of medicine, behaviorism, and psychology, the role of the individual in healthcare in the eyes of Daoist thought, and thus the importance of self cultivation and the definition of both health and disease. I will briefly outline the nature and content of the text, highlight some aspects of the worldview in it and the general ideas it represents towards health and disease, gods, demons, ghosts, revelation and posession, and how they relate to the history of Chinese medicine in general.

Romulus Bucur
Aspects of Daoism in Chinese Stories Translated into Romanian
This analyzes some aspects of Daoism in a series of classical Chinese stories, dating from the Tang-Qing dynasties, in Romanian translations. This involves a series of problems: 1º the transliteration, with different equivalences, according to the time of translation/publication, inducing certain problems in locating the texts for comparing them with Western versions; 2º problems of rendering the stylistic register and finding cultural equivalences. An attempt at typology has been made to analyze stories, characters (the Daoist priest, sometimes in syncretism with the Buddhist priest, the conjuror, pretending to be a real magician, the avenger, often initiated into all sorts of secret techniques, foxes and spirits, the avenger, sometimes in the form of the evil spirit hunter), objects with miraculous properties.

WORKSHOP D

Livia Kohn
Releasing Toxic Energy
This workshop teaches a series of simple energy-guiding and visualization techniques as well as muscle testing to measure, neutralize, and eliminate toxic energy, most strongly present in the emotion of anger. We will undertake individual and partner practice to understand how to identify internal states as being energetically wholesome or toxic and modify them with images and focused thoughts to create a state of positivity, enhancing qualities of gratitude, harmony, and protective shielding. Then we release anger in various forms to support a way of life that is free from toxic energy.

PANEL 12
POETIC EXPRESSIONS

Beth Harper
Mountain Gods and Demons: Wilderness in Daoist Ritual and Poetry
In Daoism, wilderness is not a separate realm of being; Daoist rituals allow for the experience of an enchanted landscape, a lingering force-field impressed into the landscape. These numinous presences arise from ancient trees, rocks, or other entities that somehow were able to live a long and unperturbed existence. In some cases, the spirits of trees or rocks could be perceived as difficult to control by communities, requiring disciplinary intervention by Daoist ritualists. Mountains are also considered ideal places for Daoist seekers to practice various forms of (ascetic) cultivation, find nourishment for their dietary regimes, and commune with spiritual beings. Mountain gods have a role in guarding transcendent drugs from exploitation and appropriation by demonic gods, and therefore play an important role in the Daoist quest for transcendence. How might we reconcile this judicial, religious function of the mountain with mountains as they appear in poetry? Reading a selection of Li Bai’s shi 詩 lyrics involving mountains against judicial ritual texts from the Daoist Canon, this paper will explore how the human and the non-human presence of the mountain can give rise to both abstract, philosophical ideals and more concrete understanding of religious practises in warding off demons.

Vaclav Valtr
The Language of a Demonic Immortal: The Allure of Darkness in the Work of Li He
The poems of Li He (790–816) are known for their eerie quality. Albeit during his lifetime he was honoured as a skilled verse-crafter in the palace-style poetry of Southern dynasties, his reputation as a poet who exhausted himself with compositions which led to his premature death, obsessed by strange phenomena and seductive beauty, soon started to develop. I will focus on the aesthetic qualities of uncanny apparitions in his poems, including ghosts, tree spirits, foxes, and others. Li He is also considered one of the most essential poems drawing from the so-called shamanistic tradition of the Chuci. Therefore, it surpasses the understanding of poetry as a mere artistic or aesthetic expression or the means of intellectual communication and self-promotion. His poetry expresses a specific kind of relating to the “supernatural”. The attractiveness of the spirit is often at the same level of dangerous seduce as the charm of the woman, and this fascination is not separable from his poetry's playful and occasionally mocking style. It shows us a poet who writes in a spirit-like fashion, lives in a fever-dream and muses about spirits and beauties. This narrative, which struggles to fit Li He into established categories within the
Chinese poetic tradition, has a unique attitude toward the world crawling with ghosts, which is as terrifying as it is charming.

Irina Ivașcu
Ji Kang – Music and Alchemy
The aim of this paper is to explore Ji Kang’s conception of music and the lute (qin) as a supreme symbol of the Harmony of the Universe, and its deep connection to alchemy as a path toward attaining immortality. The paper analyzes Ji Kang’s perspective on music and the lute—seen as an image of the Universe—as well as his personal experience as a musician, as expressed in his well-known Rhapsody on the Lute. This work is interpreted not only as a poem about music, but also as an “alchemical poem” about self-cultivation. The concept of music is explained in the broader context of ancient Chinese thought, particularly its connections to cosmology and numerology. The analysis draws on sources such as the Record of Music and Amiot’s treatise on ancient Chinese music. The Chinese perspective in general, and Ji Kang’s view in particular, are then contrasted with those of other civilizations, including the Indians, the Arabs, and the Greeks. In the comparative section, special emphasis is placed on the Greek concept of the Music of the Spheres, as conceived by Pythagoras and Plato, and embodied by Orpheus playing his lyre to restore the Harmony of the Universe. 

PARTICIPANTS