Download or read book The Contemplative Foundations of Classical Daoism written by Harold D. Roth and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2021-05-01 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Contemplative Foundations of Classical Daoism, Harold D. Roth explores the origins and nature of the Daoist tradition, arguing that its creators and innovators were not abstract philosophers but, rather, mystics engaged in self-exploration and self-cultivation, which in turn provided the insights embodied in such famed works as the Daodejing and Zhuangzi. In this compilation of essays and chapters representing nearly thirty years of scholarship, Roth examines the historical and intellectual origins of Daoism and demonstrates how this distinctive philosophy emerged directly from practices that were essentially contemplative in nature. In the first part of the book, Roth applies text-critical methods to derive the hidden contemplative dimensions of classical Daoism. In the second part, he applies a "contemplative hermeneutic" to explore the relationship between contemplative practices and classical Daoist philosophy and, in so doing, brings early Daoist writings into conversation with contemporary contemplative studies. To this he adds an introduction in which he reflects on the arc and influence on the field of early Chinese thought of this rich vein of scholarship and an afterword in which he applies both interpretive methods to the vexing question of the authorship of the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi. The Contemplative Foundations of Classical Daoism brings to fruition the cumulative investigations and observations of a leading figure in the emerging field of contemplative studies as they pertain to a core component of early Chinese thought.
Download or read book Introducing Daoism written by Livia Kohn and published by JBE Online Books. This book was released on 2009 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Daoism in the Twentieth Century written by David A Palmer and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2012-03 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An interdisciplinary group of scholars explores the social history and anthropology of Daoism from the late nineteenth century to the present, focusing on the evolution of traditional forms of practice and community, as well as modern reforms and reinventions. Essays investigate ritual specialists, body cultivation and meditation traditions, monasticism, new religious movements, state-sponsored institutionalization, and transnational networks"--Publisher's Web site.
Download or read book The Emergence of Daoism written by Gil Raz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the core of Daoism are ancient ideas concerning the Way, the fundamental process of existence (the Dao). Humans, as individuals and as a society, should be aligned with the Dao in order to attain the fullness of life and its potential. This book presents the history of early Daoism, tracing the development of the tradition between the first and the fifth centuries CE. This book discusses the emergence of several Daoist movements during this period, including the relatively well-known Way of the Celestial Master that appeared in the second century, and the Upper Clarity and the Numinous Treasure lineages that appeared in the fourth century. These labels are very difficult to determine socially, and they obscure the social reality of early medieval China, that included many more lineages. This book argues that these lineages should be understood as narrowly defined associations of masters and disciples, and it goes on to describe these diverse social groupings as ‘communities of practice’. Shedding new light on a complex and multifaceted phenomenon, the formation of Daoism as a new religion in early medieval China, this book presents a major step forward in Daoist Studies.
Download or read book Riding the Wind with Liezi written by Ronnie Littlejohn and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-01-02 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Liezi is the forgotten classic of Daoism. Along with the Laozi (Daodejing) and the Zhuangzi, it's been considered a Daoist masterwork since the mid-eighth century, yet unlike those well-read works, the Liezi is little known and receives scant scholarly attention. Nevertheless, the Liezi is an important text that sheds valuable light on the early history of Daoism, particularly the formative period of sectarian Daoism. We do not know exactly what shape the original text took, but what remains is replete with fantastic characters, whimsical tales, paradoxical aphorisms, and philosophically sophisticated reflection on the nature of the world and humanity's place within it. Ultimately, the Liezi sees the world as one of change and indeterminacy. Arguing for the Liezi's historical, philosophical, and literary significance, the contributors to this volume offer a fresh look at this text, using contemporary approaches and providing novel insights. The volume is unique in its attention to both philosophical and religious perspectives.
Download or read book China s Green Religion written by James Miller and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2017-05-16 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How can Daoism, China's indigenous religion, give us the aesthetic, ethical, political, and spiritual tools to address the root causes of our ecological crisis and construct a sustainable future? In China's Green Religion, James Miller shows how Daoism orients individuals toward a holistic understanding of religion and nature. Explicitly connecting human flourishing to the thriving of nature, Daoism fosters a "green" subjectivity and agency that transforms what it means to live a flourishing life on earth. Through a groundbreaking reconstruction of Daoist philosophy and religion, Miller argues for four key, green insights: a vision of nature as a subjective power that informs human life; an anthropological idea of the porous body based on a sense of qi flowing through landscapes and human beings; a tradition of knowing founded on the experience of transformative power in specific landscapes and topographies; and an aesthetic and moral sensibility based on an affective sensitivity to how the world pervades the body and the body pervades the world. Environmentalists struggle to raise consciousness for their cause, Miller argues, because their activism relies on a quasi-Christian concept of "saving the earth." Instead, environmentalists should integrate nature and culture more seamlessly, cultivating through a contemporary intellectual vocabulary a compelling vision of how the earth materially and spiritually supports human flourishing.
Download or read book An Introduction to Daoist Philosophies written by Steve Coutinho and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-19 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steve Coutinho explores in detail the fundamental concepts of Daoist thought as represented in three early texts: the Laozi, the Zhuangzi, and the Liezi. Readers interested in philosophy yet unfamiliar with Daoism will gain a comprehensive understanding of these works from this analysis, and readers fascinated by ancient China who also wish to grasp its philosophical foundations will appreciate the clarity and depth of Coutinho's explanations. Coutinho writes a volume for all readers, whether or not they have a background in philosophy or Chinese studies. A work of comparative philosophy, this volume also integrates the concepts and methods of contemporary philosophical discourse into a discussion of early Chinese thought. The resulting dialogue relates ancient Chinese thought to contemporary philosophical issues and uses modern Western ideas and approaches to throw new interpretive light on classical texts. Rather than function as historical curiosities, these works act as living philosophies in conversation with contemporary thought and experience. Coutinho respects the multiplicity of Daoist philosophies while also revealing a distinctive philosophical sensibility, and he provides clear explanations of these complex texts without resorting to oversimplification.
Download or read book Tao Te Ching written by Laozi and published by . This book was released on 1972 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Daoism in China written by Yi'e Wang and published by 五洲传播出版社. This book was released on 2004 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a systemic introduction of Daoism in China. Subjects includes the spirituality in early China, establishment and lineage of the celestial masters, Daoist deities, temples, and sacred places, the influence of Daoism in culture and customs. With black and white photographs, including shrines, temples, and deities.
Download or read book Daoism and Chinese Culture written by Livia Kohn and published by Three Pine Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A long-awaited textbook that introduces the major schools, teachings, and practices of Daoism, this work presents a chronological survey that is thematically divided into four parts: Ancient Thought, Religious Communities, Spiritual Practices, and Modernity. The work offers an integrated vision of the Daoist tradition in its historical and cultural context, establishing connections with relevant information on Confucianism, Chinese Buddhism, popular religion, and political developments. It also places Daoism into a larger theoretical and comparative framework, relating it to mysticism, millenarianism, forms of religious organization, ritual, meditation, and modernity. The book makes ample use of original materials and provides references to further readings and original sources in translation. It is a powerful resource for teaching and studying alike.
Download or read book written by Harold David Roth and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a translation and commentary to the oldest known extant Taoist text, Inward Training (Nei-yeh), which is composed of short poetic verses devoted to the practice of breath meditation and its resultant insights about human nature and the cosmos. Roth argues that Inward Training is the basis of early Taoism, and suggests that there may be more continuity between early philosophical Taoism and later Taoist religion than scholars have thought.
Download or read book Heavenly Masters written by Vincent Goossaert and published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. This book was released on 2021-12-15 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is on the shortlist of ICAS Book Prize 2023 Humanities The origins of modern Daoism can be traced to the Church of the Heavenly Master (Tianshidao), reputedly established by the formidable Zhang Daoling. In 142 CE, according to Daoist tradition, Zhang was visited by the Lord on High, who named him his vicar on Earth with the title Heavenly Master. The dispensation articulated an eschatological vision of saving initiates—the pure, those destined to become immortals— by enforcing a strict moral code. Under evolving forms, Tianshidao has remained central to Chinese society, and Daoist priests have upheld their spiritual allegiance to Zhang, their now divinized founder. This book tells the story of the longue durée evolution of the Heavenly Master leadership and institution. Later hagiography credits Zhang Daoling’s great-grandson, putatively the fourth Heavenly Master, with settling the family at Longhushan (Dragon and Tiger Mountain); in time his descendants—down to the present contested sixty-fifth Heavenly Master living in Taiwan— made the extraordinary claim of being able to transmit hereditarily the function of the Heavenly Master and the power to grant salvation. Over the next twelve centuries, the Zhangs turned Longhushan into a major holy site and a household name in the Chinese world, and constructed a large administrative center for the bureaucratic management of Chinese society. They gradually built the Heavenly Master institution, which included a sacred site; a patriarchal line of successive Heavenly Masters wielding vast monopolistic powers to ordain humans and gods; a Zhang lineage that nurtured talent and accumulated wealth; and a bureaucratic apparatus comprised of temples, training centers, and a clerical hierarchy. So well-designed was this institution that it remained stable for more than a millennium, far outlasting the longest dynasties, and had ramifications for every city and village in imperial China. In this ambitious work, Vincent Goossaert traces the Heavenly Master bureaucracy from medieval times to the modern Chinese nation-state as well as its expansion. His in-depth portraits of influential Heavenly Masters are skillfully embedded in a large-scale analysis of the institution and its rules, ideology, and vision of society.
Download or read book Daoism written by Ronnie L. Littlejohn and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2009-03-16 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The way that can be told is not the eternal Way; the name that can be named is not the eternal Name.' So begins the first verse of the mysterious "Dao De Jing", foundation text of the ancient Chinese religion of Daoism. Often attributed to semi-mythical sage Laozi, the origins of this enigmatic document - which probably came into being in the third century BCE - are actually unknown. But the tenets of Daoism laid down in the "Dao De Jing", and in later texts like the "Yi Jing" (or "Book of Changes"), continue to exert considerable fascination, particularly in the West, where in recent years they have been popularized by writers such as the novelist Ursula K LeGuin. In this fresh and engaging introduction to Daoism, Ronnie L Littlejohn discusses the central facets of a tradition which can sometimes seem as elusive as the slippery notion of 'Dao' itself. The author shows that fundamental to Daoism is the notion of 'Wu-wei', or non-action: a paradoxical idea emphasizing alignment of the self with the harmony of the universe, a universe in continual flux and change. This flux is expressed by the famous symbol of Dao, the 'taiji' representing yin and yang eternally correlating in the form of a harmonious circle. Exploring the great subtleties of this ancient religion, Littlejohn traces its development and encounters with Buddhism; its expression in art and literature; its fight for survival during the Cultural Revolution; and its manifestations in modern-day China and beyond.
Download or read book The Paradox of Being written by Poul Andersen and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The question of truth has never been more urgent than today, when the distortion of facts and the imposition of pseudo-realities in the service of the powerful have become the order of the day. In The Paradox of Being Poul Andersen addresses the concept of truth in Chinese Daoist philosophy and ritual. His approach is unapologetically universalist, and the book may be read as a call for a new way of studying Chinese culture, one that does not shy away from approaching “the other” in terms of an engagement with “our own” philosophical heritage. The basic Chinese word for truth is zhen, which means both true and real, and it bypasses the separation of the two ideas insisted on in much of the Western philosophical tradition. Through wide-ranging research into Daoist ritual, both in history and as it survives in the present day, Andersen shows that the concept of true reality that informs this tradition posits being as a paradox anchored in the inexistent Way (Dao). The preferred way of life suggested by this insight consists in seeking to be an exception to ordinary norms and rules of behavior which nonetheless engages what is common to us all.
Download or read book Knotting the Banner written by David J. Mozina and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2021-06-30 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the hills of China’s central Hunan province, an anxious young apprentice officiates over a Daoist ritual known as the Banner Rite to Summon Sire Yin. Before a crowd of masters, relatives, and villagers—and the entire pantheon of gods and deceased masters ritually invited to witness the event—he seeks to summon Celestial Lord Yin Jiao, the ferocious deity who supplies the exorcistic power to protect and heal bodies and spaces from illness and misfortune. If the apprentice cannot bring forth the deity, the rite is considered a failure and the ordination suspended: His entire professional career hangs in the balance before it even begins. This richly textured study asks how the Banner Rite works or fails to work in its own terms. How do the cosmological, theological, and anthropological assumptions ensconced in the ritual itself account for its own efficacy or inefficacy? Weaving together ethnography, textual analysis, photography, and film, David J. Mozina invites readers into the religious world of ritual masters in today’s south China. He shows that the efficacy of rituals like the Banner Rite is driven by the ability of a ritual master to form an intimate relationship with exorcistic deities like Yin Jiao, which is far from guaranteed. Mozina reveals the ways in which such ritual claims are rooted in the great liturgical movements of the Song and Yuan dynasties (960–1368) and how they are performed these days amid the social and economic pressures of rural life in the post-Mao era. Written for students and scholars of Daoism and Chinese religion, Knotting the Banner will also appeal to anthropologists and comparative religionists, especially those working on ritual.
Download or read book Daoism in History written by Benjamin Penny and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-04-18 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last decade there has been a marked increase in the study of Daoism especially in Japan, China and the West, with a new generation of scholars broadening our understanding of the religion. Including contributions from the foremost scholars in the field, Daoism in History presents new and important research. These essays honour one of the pioneers of Daoist studies, Emeritus Professor Liu Ts'un-yan. His major essay 'Was Celestial Master Zhang a Historical Figure?' addresses one of the pivotal questions in the entire history of Daoism and is included here as the final essay. In addition, a Chinese character glossary, bibliography and index conclude the book. The first in an exciting new series, this book presents brand new thinking on Daoism - a field now recognized as one of the most vital areas of research in Chinese history and the history of religions.
Download or read book Daoism written by Livia Kohn and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-09-17 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Daoism: A Contemporary Philosophical Investigation explores philosophy of religion from a Daoist perspective. Philosophy of religion is a thriving field today, increasingly expanding from its traditional theistic, Christian roots into more cosmologically oriented Asian religions. This book raises a number of different issues on the three levels of cosmos, individual, and society, and addresses key questions like: What are the distinctive characteristics of Daoist thought and cosmology? How does it approach problems of creation, body, mind, and society? What, ultimately, is Dao? How does it manifest and play a role in the world? What are the key features of Daoist communities and ethics? What role does the body play in Daoism? What do Daoists think is the relationship between language and reality? What is Daoist immortality? How do Daoists envision the perfect life on earth? The volume delves into philosophical subject matter in a way that is accessible to those approaching the topic for this first time, while also making an original contribution to Daoist philosophy of religion. This volume is suitable for use by undergraduate and graduate students studying Chinese religion and philosophy, as well as more general introductory courses on Daoism.
