denekin
Jedi
For those who have an interest in Taoism, Russell Kirkland's Taoism: The Enduring Tradition is the best and most interesting book I have read on the subject. It is a very academic book, not "fun" reading. He argues that Western and Many Eastern scholars of Taoism have inherited certain assumptions from each other that do NOT hold up to serious scrutiny, and have created a lot of fog around understanding the subject. He gives short shrift to the New Age assumption that Taoism is about some sort of groovy "become one with Nature and be spontaneous".
He also argues that Taoism is not a religion the way Christianity or Islam, or even Buddhism or Hinduism are Religions. Rather it is a Corpus of philosophical and practical Work research and writings that are very much oriented to the development of the individual for the benefit of the many. I was struck by how in sync his presentation of taoism is with basic premises of the 4th Way work.
The book is ten years old and I'm embarrassed it's taken me this long to find it. Highly recommended.
http://smile.amazon.com/Taoism-Enduring-Tradition-Russell-Kirkland/dp/0415263220/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1418406729
The author's website: http://russellkirkland.com/
and from that site:
"In 2004, Professor Kirkland published Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (London and New York: Routledge). In it, he works to show that, over the centuries of imperial Chinese history, Taoism was a valued and important element of Chinese culture and society, among both the literate classes and the general public. The book is the first major effort to re-evaluate Taoism on terms that are defined with reference to the ways in which centuries of Taoists have understood and practiced their own tradition, rather than simply by how modern Confucians misrepresented it to foreign scholars and the Chinese people alike. This influential book has been translated into Italian, and other publications by Professor Kirkland have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.
He also argues that Taoism is not a religion the way Christianity or Islam, or even Buddhism or Hinduism are Religions. Rather it is a Corpus of philosophical and practical Work research and writings that are very much oriented to the development of the individual for the benefit of the many. I was struck by how in sync his presentation of taoism is with basic premises of the 4th Way work.
The book is ten years old and I'm embarrassed it's taken me this long to find it. Highly recommended.
http://smile.amazon.com/Taoism-Enduring-Tradition-Russell-Kirkland/dp/0415263220/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1418406729
The author's website: http://russellkirkland.com/
and from that site:
"In 2004, Professor Kirkland published Taoism: The Enduring Tradition (London and New York: Routledge). In it, he works to show that, over the centuries of imperial Chinese history, Taoism was a valued and important element of Chinese culture and society, among both the literate classes and the general public. The book is the first major effort to re-evaluate Taoism on terms that are defined with reference to the ways in which centuries of Taoists have understood and practiced their own tradition, rather than simply by how modern Confucians misrepresented it to foreign scholars and the Chinese people alike. This influential book has been translated into Italian, and other publications by Professor Kirkland have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese.
