Jessica Kingsley Publishers

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The Secret of Everlasting Life

The First Translation of the Ancient Chinese Text on Immortality

Richard Bertschinger

Published by Singing Dragon

Paperback: £15.99 / $24.95

2010, 234mm x 156mm / 9.25in x 6in, 304pp
ISBN: 978-1-84819-048-1, BIC 2: HRKN5 VXFD

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The Secret of Everlasting Life is the first translation from the Chinese of the second-century Can Tong Qi. This ancient work, the earliest known text on transformation and immortality, echoes the wisdom and poetry of both the Tao Te Ching and I Ching. The Can Tong Qi is also the ancestral text of all Qi Gong exercises in China. This translation reveals for the first time the meditation methods practised for thousands of years by Taoist sages.

Presented here with its original Chinese commentaries, the Can Tong Qi is full of practical information and advice about the process of human transformation and how to nurture and develop the natural life-energy within us. Richard Bertschinger's additional commentary explains the intricacies of Chinese allegory and symbolism for the Western reader.

This book is an insightful read for anyone interested in Taoist thought, Chinese philosophy and culture, or Chinese medicine.

Blog posts

The Secret of Everlasting Life: An Interview with Singing Dragon author Richard Bertschinger

16 December 2010

"Reader, you probably have yourself felt those precious moments of quiet in your life, no? ...The genius of the Chinese sages was that they found a method, a technique akin to Indian Yoga, by which this experience could be cultivated, taught and developed. Of course, all this is now being verified by modern research, brain imaging and such like, and work on neuro-transmitters; the benefits of regular pratice of qigong are at last being recognised."