St. Petersburg: Peterburgskoe vostokovedenie Publ., 2011, 656 p. (in Russian)

"Oh, how hidden is the Nameless! But the Tao is the Path of the Nameless One near us! Keep the unity and use it to recreate the Only Three. And you will see them! If you can see the Only Ones, then you can ask for these books. But these books should only be passed on in secret. The method of "keeping the Only Three" is the first chapter from the books of the Lord-lord of the Golden Gate (Jin que di-jun) from the heavenly palace of the Highest purity, where Perfect people live. These are the hidden instructions of the Perfect Ones... "(p. 7).

With these words, the reader begins his journey to the wonderful world of Taoism and the book collection of one of the early Taoist schools - Shangqing Pai, or the Highest Purity, in which he sets off from the first pages of the book by the Russian researcher of Taoism S. V. Filonov. This is the first monograph in our country devoted to the Shangqing Taoist school and its representative written monuments, reflecting the formation and change of ideas, practical methods and ideas of this Taoist teaching in historical retrospect. The monograph continues the work of a galaxy of Taoists of the last century: M. Strickman, J. Lagerway, M. Kaltenmark, I. Robinet, S. Bockenkamp, P. Andersen and others, and also significantly complements and corrects the ideas of Russian Taoism about the origin of the Shangqing book collection, the conceptual content of its sources and the main lines of development of the Taoist movement as a whole during the period of the Great Taoist Revolution. the early Middle Ages.

"The history of Shangqing's teaching is the history of his books... "(p. 114), and it begins not on earth, but in heaven. According to Taoist cosmology, Shangqing is the name of a palace in one of the highest heavens of the universe, where the Perfect Ones (zhen ren) live and, according to Taoist ideas, wonderful books are kept. They are wonderful because they have preserved the light of the very first heavenly writings from the "purest qi and bright fiery light of the primordial cosmos", which were already there when nothing was yet to be. Only then were they written down by the higher deities and took the form of " cloud signs-writings "(yun Zhuan). and "dragon and phoenix pattern seals" (Long Feng Zhi Zhang) (p. 59). Recitation and diligent execution of the methods from these books were believed to not only allow one to gain health and prolong the years of life, but also to ensure the transition to a different ontological level of being - "in broad daylight, ascend to heaven" (bai zhi sheng tian) in order to take a high place in the heavenly hierarchy.

Introducing the reader to the essence of the Taoist idea of the prehistory of his written tradition, the author cites fragments from " Zhen gao "("Utterances of the Perfect"), "Tzu du yan guan" ("On the Purple Passage to the [Other] shore by a flaming ray"), "Yu pei jin dan" ("[Book-foundation] on jade pendants and gold pendants"), "Tian guan san tu jing" ("The Foundation Book on the Three Schemes of the Heavenly Outposts"), "Deng zhen yin jue" ("Secret Instructions for entering-

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on the path] Perfect"), Taoist Lei shu "Yun ji qi qian" ("[Books] on seven sections from the [heavenly] casket in the clouds"), "Wu shang bi yao" ("The Secret and most important of the Infinitely High") and other Taoist works, first translated into Russian. Outlining Shangqing's ideas about the heavenly origin of books, S. V. Filonov emphasizes that " Shangqing cosmography is not just a list of heavenly paradisiacal places or wonderful palaces of the highest hierarchs of Another world, it is also a bibliographic topography... Almost every heavenly palace was also perceived by the followers of this Taoist tradition as a book depository" (p.61). It was from such repositories that the heavenly books came to the "world of dust and dirt", when the celestials "descended from [heaven] and handed [the books]" (p. 54) to the most worthy Taoist ascetics.

It is believed that the "earthly" origin of the Shangqing book collection is connected with the name of Yang Xi (330-371?) - the first recipient of hidden books, which he later passed on to his patron - the commandant of the princely security forces Xu Mi (303-373?) and his younger son Xu Hui (341-370?). It was Yang Xi who brought the celestials from the Highest purity heaven to pass on the instructions of the Perfect Ones in the Tao Path. The author calls for a series of "meetings" with the celestials to be regarded not only from the point of view of religious experience, but also as "markers of literary and social connections", which should be understood "as metaphors that hide real meetings..."(p. 115). He supports his position with a quote from "Zhen gao", which says that even before the "meetings" with the celestials, Yang Xi received "Five formulas-amulets of the Spiritual Jewel" (Lin bao wu-fu) from the eldest son of the matriarch of the Shangqing teaching, Wei Hua-tsung, whose name was Liu Pu (c. 75). In another passage, from the Taoist encyclopedia Tao Jiao and Shu (The Hilt of the Meaning of Taoist Teaching), it is stated that "[Before her departure to heaven, Wei Huacun entrusted these books to her son Tao-to, who in turn passed them on to Lord Yang Xi " (p. 116). The detailed analysis of the external history of the Shangqing book allows us to correct the point of view that has developed in Russian sinology about the origin of the Shangqing school's book corpus.

The second chapter, "The Early History of the Shangqing Book Collection," introduces the reader in more detail to the process of forming the Shangqing collection and the development of the Highest Purity teaching-from the first recipient of the Shangqing books, Yang Xi, its first keepers, Xu Mi and Xu Hui, Xu Huang-min (361-129), the brothers Ma Lan and Ma Han, to writing at the beginning Fifth-century forgery of Wang Ling-chi's texts, the compilation of the first collection of Shangqing works by Gu Huan (420?-483?), and its inclusion in the general Chinese book collection (the first prototype of the Tao Tsang ) Lu Hsiu-ching (406-477) and the first researcher of the Shangqing writings, Tao Hong-ching (456-536). Information about each of the above-mentioned Shangqing figures is provided with author's translations of extensive fragments from Taoist bibliographic sources, and a detailed description of the life of Taoist ascetics immerses the reader in the mysterious world of the teachings of the Highest purity and is read in one breath as a fascinating novel with its characters, events and vicissitudes of the existence of the Taoist book.

As noted by S. V. Filonov, the Shantsin book collection was formed by three sub-titles that have an independent origin, but form a single megatext as a whole. The author highlights the genealogical origins of the Shangqing book collection:

* A body of "Da dong ching" ("Basic Books from the Great Cave") that trace their genealogy back to the semi-legendary Shangqing ascetic Wang Bao, the main recipient and custodian of these books. An inventory of these written monuments was recorded in the San dong feng tao ke tse ying-shi ("Fundamentals of the Code and precepts-prescriptions [for] worshippers of the Tao-The Path of the Three Caves"). The most important works of this tradition are Da dong zhen ching ("The Perfect Book-the Basis of [from] the Great Cave") and Tai dan yin Shu ("The Hidden Book of the Great Cinnabar");

* a body of writings that develop the ideas of "Huang ting Ching" ("Books of the Yellow Courtyard"), which tradition associates with the Shangqing school mentor Wei Hua-tsung and the semi-legendary Taoist ascetic-the Perfect One from Ching-lin;

* the body of texts of the sub-tradition of the Ch'uan-tzu Su Lin, which are reflected in the " Ch'i-yang zhenren nei zhuan "("The Inner Life of the Perfect Purple Light"), and the main work of this direction "Su ling jing" ("The Book-base [from the heavenly palace] Of the purest spirit") (pp. 140-141).

The central part of the monograph is devoted to the analysis of the main works reflecting the ideology of the last two subtraditions - " Books of the Yellow Courtyard "(chapters IV-VIII) and " Books-os-

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novas [from the heavenly palace] Of the Purest spirit" (Chapters IX-XII), which laid the foundation of the Shangqing worldview.

According to Taoist beliefs, the Yellow Courtyard (Huang ting) it is the center of the" anthropological cosmos " (the inner space of the human body inhabited by deities), but not static and local, but dynamic and functional. The text of the "Book of the Yellow Courtyard" is known in two versions: "Tai-shang huang tin wai jing jing" ("The Book of the Yellow Courtyard and External Radiances, [according to tradition] The Highest") and "Shang qing huang ting nei jing jing" ("The Book of the Yellow Courtyard and Inner Radiance, [according to tradition] 177-178, Table 1). The author proves unconvincing theses about the earlier origin of one of the variants, "Huang Ting Ching", and suggests that both of its variants were created at the same time, and the criterion for their differentiation was orientation to different social groups.

As part of the text of the Su ling Jing, S. V. Filonov identifies nine independent works, each of which has its own name and purpose in Taoist ritual practice (p. 319, Table 6). The central concept of this monument is the doctrine of the Nine palaces of the brain inhabited by a group of inner spirits-deities (nei-shen), i.e. deities residing in the body of the Taoist himself.

As the author points out, "Huang ting Jing" and "Su ling Jing" are among the first works of religious Taoism, which pose the problem of achieving the state of a celestial being(Xian) and indicate the leading "improvement of the spirit through the improvement of the body through visual exercises" (p.169). Based on a detailed study of sources from the Shangqing book collection, S. V. Filonov disputes the assumption of the priority of external alchemy methods in Taoism of the early Middle Ages, giving priority to methods of internal self-improvement (pp. 537-538). Among them, the author singles out the method of actualization of objects of the anthropological cosmos "inner vision "(nei guang): "...viewing yourself from the inside and turning yourself into a zeal in visual wanderings through the" cultural space" of your own body, a person can find the state of Xian-the celestial " (p.169). Breathing exercises and purifying rituals, he notes, played a secondary, auxiliary role in the process of self-improvement in the early Taoist schools.

The terminological and ideological affinity of the early writings of organized Taoism by St. Filonov is not associated with the philosophy of"Tao te Ching". Some of the concepts of "Huang ting ching", in his opinion, are close to the tradition of ancient Chinese healers, presented in "Huang-di nei ching" ("The Book of the Yellow Emperor on the Inner") and "Ba-shi-i nan ching", ideas from "Huainan Tzu" ("Philosophers from Huainan") The system of images and poetic language of " Chu tsi "("Chus Stanzas"), and the ideological relationship of "Su ling tsing" can be seen with the Taoist teachings of the Three Augustines (San Huang) and fragments from the 18th chapter of " Baopu Tzu "(p. 318). All this suggests the existence of a single cultural substratum and to some extent approaches the solution of the question of the genealogical origins of some Taoist ideas.

The main part of the monograph provides a detailed description of the" internal topology " of the human body (the system of internal organs) as it was represented by Taoist self-consciousness: Five storehouses (wu-tsang) and Six barns (Liu fu), Yellow Courtyard (Huang ting), Cinnabar fields (dan Tian), Nine palaces. Brain-Hall of Light (Ming-tan), Cave-room (Dong-fang), Molten Pearl (Lu-zhu), Hidden Cinnabar (Xuan-dan), Cinnabar Field or Clay Ball (Ni-wan), Jade Lord (Yu-di), Heavenly Court (Tien-ting), the Ultimate Perfection (Ji-zhen), the August Empress (Tai-huang). The unique material about Taoist methods of self-improvement is given: "the method of Women's Only Four palaces [brain]" (Si Gong ci yi), "the method of Nine palaces" (Jiu gong fa), " the method of Three Only Five [stars] Ladle" (Wu-dou san-yi), etc.D. Especially interesting is the information about deities from the palaces of Cinnabar fields, which the Taoist ascetic had to "visit" during his "wanderings" through the hidden places of his body. The author not only gives a detailed description of their appearance, clothing items and places where they live, but also describes in detail the rituals and exercises that should accompany their visualization (p.342-411).

In addition to a thorough study of the "Yellow Courtyard Books" and " Foundation Books [from the Heavenly Palace] St. Philo also examines some of the works from the main body of Shangqing texts, the so-called Da Dong Ching (Basic Books [from] the Great Pe-

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schera). A complete list of the works included in this collection is presented in the Appendix to the book (pp. 543-553).

Based on a thorough analysis of a whole body of Taoist sources, the author offers an original interpretation of the categorical apparatus of Taoist religious writings of Shen-ming: Miraculous-light-bearing deities, Radiances (jing), the Master of the mortal body (shi), Female Singular (ci yi), Three Poison-bearing Plants (san du), Cereal worms (gu chun), etc.

As S. V. Filonov points out, the main motif of Shantsin's basic books is "overcoming death and celebrating life" (p.541). Just as there is light and darkness in the world, heavenly halls and gloomy dungeons, so there are "seeds" of life and death in man, who is a cast of the universe (p.416). The theme of the deadly elements in man is discussed in detail in Chapter XIII. Thanks to the author's research in this area, Russian Taoism for the first time received comprehensive material about the destructive principles in the microcosm-the body in the form that they were perceived by the Taoist self-consciousness. By the Tang period, Taoist ideas about the "seeds of death" were firmly embedded in the lexicon of Chinese belles lettres (pp. 468-474).

However, as noted by S. V. Filonov, Taoist terms in poetry may have been borrowed from the popular religious tradition and do not always indicate the connection of their authors with the teachings of the Taoist organized movement. He supports his point of view with an excellent textual and philological analysis of poetic fragments of Tang writers who quote Taoist expressions from the concept of destructive principles (pp. 474-480).

The author gives a key to understanding some little-known aspects of the Taoist religious teaching about the Xiang-celestials" (p. 486-525), draws the decoration and scene on which the mystical transformation of the Taoist into the celestial-Xian takes place: "golden chambers", "radiance and wing"; the changes occurring in his body convey images of " jade the idea of metamorphosis and transformation is expressed-the Taoist "whitens-cleanses" his "inner" spirits-deities, gaining health and youth, and calls into himself "The Trinity, the Five, the Seven and the Nine" - groups of deities of the " anthropological cosmos"who guard the Taoist, sealing the "gate of death", until the climax of the whole action-the Taoist becomes a Xiang, "ascends into the void", "rides around the dawn" and appears for an audience with the Heavenly Emperor. The interpretation of Taoist concepts that express the "motif of the triumph of life", supported exclusively by verified translations of synchronous sources, forms a dictionary of the figurative language of the teaching of the Highest purity, without which many of its symbols and metaphors would remain a mystery to us.

In addition to immersing the reader in the magical world of images of the Shangqing book, this monograph is also a real textbook on the study of Taoism. All the way that the reader goes from the history of the "heavenly books" through the stages of the formation of the Shangqing book collection to the analysis of Taoist ideas about overcoming death and the triumph of life, which is surprisingly accurate and broad, is a systematic description and practical application of the methodology of textual and philological hermeneutics developed by the author of the reviewed book (pp. 528-533).

Special attention should be paid to 313 illustrations from the original Taoist writings included in the "Tao Tsang", and captions to them, which in themselves can be an independent object of study. Each drawing is not only provided with an indication of its source, but also supplemented with a meaningful characteristic of the pictorial element. If it is an amulet of the Fu category, then the reader will certainly learn about its purpose on these pages, if a fragment of a Taoist ritual-read comprehensive information about its content and rules of execution; drawings depicting heavenly deities and messengers are accompanied by information about the Taoist pantheon.

The book is provided with an extensive bibliographic list of works in European, Russian, Chinese and Japanese (pp. 560-597), reflecting the scientific achievements of scientists of the last century, as well as the latest information on this topic. The advantage of this list is references to online resources, if the work is available in an electronic version. Such links will undoubtedly be useful for novice researchers, as libraries do not always offer specialized, up-to-date literature on Taoism.

In addition, the publication contains a number of indexes; both quite traditional - "Index of Names" (p.626-631), "Index of names of works" (p. 632-644), and "Index of characters" (p. 645-654). The proposed SV. Filonov translated the names of Taoist sources, names and titles of the "inner" deities of the human body, concepts and terms from the Shangqing thesaurus-

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The work of a leading expert in the field of Taoist studies should certainly be introduced into the scientific lexicon when compiling encyclopedic and reference manuals about China. I would especially like to mention the very successful translation of the title of the Taoist lei-shu "Yun ji qi qian "("[Books] in seven sections from the [heavenly] casket in the clouds"), which is preceded by a detailed analysis and analysis of concepts from the Taoist bibliographic classification system (p. 55, note 24).

Unfortunately, the "Index of Terms" and "Index of Chinese Expressions" prepared by the author were not included in the publication. Their absence will significantly complicate the work with the book, which can be compared to an encyclopedia in terms of a lot of unique information on the history of Taoism and Chinese traditional culture. It would be useful to supplement such a substantial study with a dictionary of the Shangqing tradition, which would separately present the key terminology and other aspects of this Taoist teaching. It is also a pity that the monograph, at least in the appendix, does not provide a complete translation of the "Book of the Yellow Courtyard" itself, which could have initiated the study of the commentary tradition of the "Huang Ting Ching" and would have provided information about the change in the ideas associated with it among the followers of the Taoist schools after the period of the Six Dynasties. However, these comments are rather wishes for the future in the hope that the book is waiting for more than one reprint and these additions will find a place in it.

The author has done fundamental work on the study of early medieval Taoism: the method of reading early monuments of religious Taoism has been developed, the ways of forming Taoist book collections have been reconstructed, and the ideology underlying Taoist religious texts has been analyzed. In addition to a thorough analysis of Taoist writings, the reader will find information on Taoist mythology, the history of China in the early Middle Ages, Chinese literature, medicine and art. There is no doubt that this is a real encyclopedia of the Shangqing teachings. The fact that the main text of the monograph (not counting footnotes and appendices) contains more than 170 extensive fragments of Taoist religious works in translation, and each provision is supported by numerous quotations from primary sources, speaks for itself.

The book will be of interest to the widest range of readers - both professionals who work with sources in the ancient Chinese language, and those who are beginning their acquaintance with the rich and diverse culture of China. With the publication of S. V. Filonov's monograph, which introduces us to the subtleties of the study of the Taoist Book, we can confidently speak of the beginning of a new period in the study of Taoism and the emergence of a modern paradigm of Taoist research, revealing the amazing and mysterious world of Shangqing.

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