Lanterna Rally
eBook PDF Download Digital Library
The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying
Author:
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2021-09-22
Total Pages: 384
ISBN-13: 0190876484
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →This book presents for the first time in English a complete translation of the Expository Commentary to the Daode jing, written by the Daoist monk Cheng Xuanying in the 7th century CE. This commentary is a quintessential text of Tang dynasty Daoist philosophy and of Chongxuanxue or Twofold Mystery teachings. Cheng Xuanying proposes a reading of the ancient Daode jing that aligns the text with Daoist practices and beliefs and integrates Buddhist concepts and techniques into the exegesis of the Daode jing. Building on the philosophical tradition of Xuanxue authors like Wang Bi, Cheng read the Daode jing in light of Daoist religion. Cheng presents Laozi, the presumed author of the Daode jing, as a bodhisattva-like sage and savior, who wrote the Daode jing to compassionately guide human beings to salvation. Salvation is interpreted as a metaphysical form of immortality, reached by overcoming the dichotomy of being and non-being, and thus also life and death. Cheng's philosophical outlook ties together the ancient text of the Daode jing and contemporary developments in Daoist thought which occurred under the influence of an intense interaction with Buddhist ideas. The commentary is a vivid testimony of the integration of Buddhist thought into an exegesis of the ancient classic of the Daode jing, and thereby also into Chinese philosophy. Friederike Assandri frames this new translation with an extensive introduction, providing crucial context for a new reading of the Daode jing. It includes a biography of Cheng Xuanying, a discussion of the historical and political context of Daoism in early medieval China in the capital Chang'an, and a discussion of Cheng's philosophy in relation to the interaction of Daoism and Buddhism. This commentary is essential reading for students and scholars interested in the history of Chinese philosophy, Daoist thought, and the reception of Buddhism in China.
The Daode Jing
Author: Livia Kohn
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2019-10-18
Total Pages: 289
ISBN-13: 0190689811
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Daode jing ("Book of the Dao and Its Virtue") is an essential work in both traditional Chinese culture and world philosophy. The oldest text of philosophical Daoism, and widely venerated among religious Daoist practitioners, it was composed around the middle of the 4th century BCE. Ascribed to a thinker named Laozi, a contemporary of Confucius, the work is based on a set of aphorisms designed to help local lords improve their techniques of government. The most translated book after the Bible, the Daode jing appears in numerous variants and remains highly relevant in the modern world. This guide provides an overview of the text, presenting its historical unfolding, its major concepts, and its contemporary use. It also gives some indication of its essence by citing relevant passages and linking them to the religious practices of traditional Daoism.
Beyond the Daode Jing
Author: Friederike Assandri
Publisher: Three Pine Press
Published: 2009
Total Pages: 262
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Introduction -- Historical background : schools and politics -- Major representatives : Daoists of the Liang and Tang -- The sources : commentaries and scriptures -- Key concepts : mystery, Dao, and the greater cosmos -- Salvation : Dao-nature and the sage -- The teaching : mysticism, cultivation, and integration -- Changes in the Pantheon : Laozi and the heavenly deities -- The body of the sage : the three-in-one and the three- -- Fold body of the Buddha
The Encyclopedia of Taoism
Author: Fabrizio Pregadio
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2013-05-13
Total Pages: 1731
ISBN-13: 1135796335
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →The Encyclopedia of Taoism provides comprehensive coverage of Taoist religion, thought and history, reflecting the current state of Taoist scholarship. Taoist studies have progressed beyond any expectation in recent years. Researchers in a number of languages have investigated topics virtually unknown only a few years previously, while others have surveyed for the first time textual, doctrinal and ritual corpora. The Encyclopedia presents the full gamut of this new research. The work contains approximately 1,750 entries, which fall into the following broad categories: surveys of general topics; schools and traditions; persons; texts; terms; deities; immortals; temples and other sacred sites. Terms are given in their original characters, transliterated and translated. Entries are thoroughly cross-referenced and, in addition, 'see also' listings are given at the foot of many entries. Attached to each entry are references taking the reader to a master bibliography at the end of the work. There is chronology of Taoism and the whole is thoroughly indexed. There is no reference work comparable to the Encyclopedia of Taoism in scope and focus. Authored by an international body of experts, the Encyclopedia will be an essential addition to libraries serving students and scholars in the fields of religious studies, philosophy and religion, and Asian history and culture.
The Taoist Canon
Author: Kristofer Schipper
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2019-09-01
Total Pages: 1683
ISBN-13: 022672106X
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Taoism remains the only major religion whose canonical texts have not been systematically arranged and made available for study. This long-awaited work, a milestone in Chinese studies, catalogs and describes all existing texts within the Taoist canon. The result will not only make the entire range of existing Taoist texts accessible to scholars of religion, it will open up a crucial resource in the study of the history of China. The vast literature of the Taoist canon, or Daozang, survives in a Ming Dynasty edition of some fifteen hundred different texts. Compiled under imperial auspices and completed in 1445—with a supplement added in 1607—many of the books in the Daozang concern the history, organization, and liturgy of China's indigenous religion. A large number of works deal with medicine, alchemy, and divination. If scholars have long neglected this unique storehouse of China's religious traditions, it is largely because it was so difficult to find one's way within it. Not only was the rationale of its medieval classification system inoperable for the many new texts that later entered the Daozang, but the system itself was no longer understood by the Ming editors; hence the haphazard arrangement of the canon as it has come down to us. This new work sets out the contents of the Daozang chronologically, allowing the reader to follow the long evolution of Taoist literature. Lavishly illustrated, the first volume ranges from antiquity through the Middle Ages, while the second spans the modern period. Within this frame, texts are grouped by theme and subject. Each one is the subject of a historical abstract that identifies the text's contents, date of origin, and author. Throughout the first two volumes, introductions outline the evolution of Taoism and its spiritual heritage. A third volume offering biographical sketches of frequently mentioned Taoists, multiple indexes, and an extensive bibliography provides critical tools for navigating this guide to one of the fundamental aspects of Chinese culture.
The Annotated Critical Laozi
Author: Guying Chen
Publisher: BRILL
Published: 2020-01-20
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9004421645
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Chen Guying’s Laozi includes some of the most significant traditional commentary and influential contemporary scholarship. This book completely changed Laozi studies in China, and its English translation gives scholars a unique inroad to Chinese perspectives on the Laozi.
The Wisdom of Zhuang Zi on Daoism
Author: Zhuangzi
Publisher: Peter Lang
Published: 2008
Total Pages: 462
ISBN-13: 9781433100789
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Throughout the years there have been several editions of Zhuang Zi's book with significant differences in certain parts of the text. Not every word in the book came from Zhuang Zi's pen. Contributions were made by his disciples and there have been many changes to the original text: errors in hand copying the text, in mistaking notations for text, and in outright forgery throughout centuries. Chen Guying's 1976 edition of the book, an eclectic study of all the editions that identifies probable forgeries, is used as the text reference in the present translation.
Early Chinese Mysticism
Author: Livia Kohn
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 1992
Total Pages: 236
ISBN-13: 9780691020655
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →Did Chinese mysticism vanish after its first appearance in ancient Taoist philosophy, to surface only after a thousand years had passed, when the Chinese had adapted Buddhism to their own culture? This first integrated survey of the mystical dimension of Taoism disputes the commonly accepted idea of such a hiatus. Covering the period from the Daode jing to the end of the Tang, Livia Kohn reveals an often misunderstood Chinese mystical tradition that continued through the ages. Influenced by but ultimately independent of Buddhism, it took forms more various than the quietistic withdrawal of Laozi or the sudden enlightenment of the Chan Buddhists. On the basis of a new theoretical evaluation of mysticism, this study analyzes the relationship between philosophical and religious Taoism and between Buddhism and the native Chinese tradition. Kohn shows how the quietistic and socially oriented Daode jing was combined with the ecstatic and individualistic mysticism of the Zhuangzi, with immortality beliefs and practices, and with Buddhist insight meditation, mind analysis, and doctrines of karma and retribution. She goes on to demonstrate that Chinese mysticism, a complex synthesis by the late Six Dynasties, reached its zenith in the Tang, laying the foundations for later developments in the Song traditions of Inner Alchemy, Chan Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism.
The Hundred Remedies of the Tao
Author: Gregory Ripley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2023-12-05
Total Pages: 331
ISBN-13: 1644119005
DOWNLOAD EBOOK →A new translation of the 6th-century Taoist text Bai Yao Lu (Statutes of the Hundred Remedies), with practical commentary • Explains how the Hundred Remedies of the Bai Yao Lu offer a practical guide to what enlightened or sagely behavior looks like • Shows how each short verse of the Hundred Remedies presents a spiritual precept as a solution to the problems encountered in daily life and on the spiritual path • Provides insightful commentary for each of the Hundred Remedies, showing how they relate to meditation practice and can help us navigate emotional and social challenges In modern Taoist practice, the emphasis is often on “going with the flow” (wu-wei) and not following any fixed rules of any kind. This may work well for an already enlightened Taoist Sage, but for the rest of us, following a spiritual path involves ethical, moral, and practical guidelines. As author and translator Gregory Ripley (Li Guan, 理觀) explains, the little-known 6th-century Taoist text called the Bai Yao Lu (Statutes of the Hundred Remedies) was created as a practical guide to what enlightened or sagely behavior looks like—and each of the 100 spiritual remedies are just as relevant today as they were when written over 1500 years ago. Presenting a new translation of the Bai Yao Lu for the contemporary world, Ripley provides insightful commentary for each of the Hundred Remedies, showing how they relate to Taoist meditation practice and how they can help us navigate the emotional and social challenges we all experience. He explains how each short verse of the Hundred Remedies presents a spiritual precept in a positive way, not as a restriction or commandment that must not be broken but as a solution to the problems encountered in daily life as well as on the spiritual path. He shows how these deceptively simple statutes, known as abstentions in Taoism, teach us how to emulate the behavior of the Sages until the behavior becomes our own. Both scholarly and inspirational, this guidebook to Taoist spiritual living will help you learn to effortlessly go with the flow, deepen your meditation practice, and find the natural balance in all things.
