Welcome to Three Pines Press

Beyond the Daode jing Twofold Mystery in Tang Daoism
Friederike Assandri
Developing at a time of intense interaction and debate among Daoists and Buddhists, Twofold Mystery integrates many originally Buddhist concepts into a Daoist theory of salvation based on, yet going beyond, the Daode jing. Heir to the philosophical tradition of Dark Learning or Mystery Study as well as to Daoist devotional and immortality schools of the Six Dynasties, Twofold Mystery is key to understanding medieval Daoist thought.

Internal Alchemy: Self, Society, and the Quest for Immortality
edited by Livia Kohn and Robin R. Wang
Internal alchemy (neidan) has been the dominant system of Daoist spiritual practice since the Song dynasty, when it was defined as the complex integration of multiple forms of Daoist self-cultivation. Its practitioners transform body energies into subtle levels of spirit and pure cosmic being, hoping to find illumination by returning to the fundamental order of the cosmos and in the process reconcile physiological training with intellectual speculation.

Myth and Meaning in Early Daoism: The Theme of Chaos (Hundun)
N. J. Girardot
Myth and Meaning in Early Daoism examines some of the earliest texts associated with the Daoist tradition (primarily the Daode jing, Zhuangzi, and Huainanzi) from the outlook of the comparative history of religions and finds a kind of thematic and soteriological unity rooted in the mythological symbolism of hundun, the primal chaos being and principle that is foundational for the philosophy and practice of the Dao as creatio continua in cosmic, social, and individual life.

The Way of Highest Clarity
James Miller
The Way of Highest Clarity was a Daoist religious movement that flourished for a thousand years in medieval China. This book explains its chief religious ideas and practices through three key texts, translated into English for the first time.

Meditation Works in the Daoist, Buddhist and Hindu Traditions
Livia Kohn
This work explores meditation as the inward focus of attention in a state of mind where ego-related concerns and critical evaluations are suspended.

Journal of Daoist Studies
The second volume of this new journal covering theory and practice in Daoist Studies is due out in February 2009.

Laughing at the Dao
Livia Kohn
This work outlines the Xiaodao lun (Laughing at the Dao), an important document of the debates among Buddhists and Daoists in sixth-century China.