Taoism: The Enduring Tradition

✍ Scribed by R. Kirkland

• Year: 2004
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 304
• Edition: New edition
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

This clear and reliable introduction to Taoism (also known as Daoism) brings a fresh dimension to a tradition that has found a natural place in Western society. Examining Taoist sacred texts together with current scholarship, it surveys Taoism's ancient roots, contemporary heritage and role in daily life.From Taoism's spiritual philosophy to its practical perspectives on life and death, self-cultivation, morality, society, leadership and gender, Russell Kirkland's essential guide reveals the real contexts behind concepts such as Feng Shui and Tai Chi.

✦ Table of Contents

BOOK COVER......Page 1
HALF-TITLE......Page 2
TITLE......Page 3
COPYRIGHT......Page 4
CONTENTS......Page 5
FOREWORD......Page 7
PREFACE......Page 10
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 19
Realities, constructs, and hermeneutical challenges......Page 22
What “Taoism” is: fact, tradition, and self-identification......Page 27
The data-set of “Taoism”: a taxonomic approach......Page 29
Transcending invalid reifications of “tradition”......Page 31
“Self-identification”: the value of the Tao-tsang for identifying “the facts of Taoism”......Page 33
The historical Taoist “community”......Page 37
Taoism and “the hundred schools”......Page 42
“Mohism” and its relation to Taoism......Page 44
“Legalism” and its relation to Taoism......Page 48
Peering into the unseen to discern the subtle structures and currents of the world: the I ching, yin and yang, and the “five forces”......Page 50
“Confucianism” and its relation to Taoism......Page 53
The “useless words” of Chuang Chou......Page 55
Cultivating life’s subtle forces: the Nei-yeh......Page 61
From “the elders” of Ch’u to the Chi-hsia academy: the Tao te ching......Page 73
Our three “editions” of the Tao te ching......Page 74
“Lao-tzu”......Page 76
The origins of the Tao te ching: the elders of Ch’u......Page 77
The creation of “Taoist” ideas: the Chi-hsia academy......Page 85
What Taoists inherited from classical texts......Page 88
3 THE COURSE OF THE TAOIST TRADITION......Page 94
Wellsprings: the Han dynasty......Page 96
Southerly currents......Page 104
Northerly currents......Page 108
The high-water mark: the T’ang dynasty......Page 111
The damming of the Tao?......Page 116
Old currents, new channels......Page 121
Life in the tideways......Page 128
4 THE SOCIO-POLITICAL MATRIX OF TAOISM......Page 136
“Literati Taoism”......Page 140
Women in Taoism: data, interpretation, and issues......Page 145
Women in Taoist history......Page 154
Taoists and dynasts......Page 163
Life, death, and “transcendence”......Page 192
The “transcendents” and the spiritual aspirations of living mortals......Page 202
“Cultivating reality”......Page 209
Taoism and East Asian tantrism......Page 222
CONCLUSION......Page 230
NOTES......Page 238
REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 274
INDEX......Page 290