Looking for a guided introduction to taoism, and the historical context
Looking for a guided introduction to taoism, and the historical context
I'd like to learn about taoism, the teachings and their historical context.
Do you have a suggestion for english language works on the subject? How did you first learn about the subject?
Daoisms history is very long. Depending on what you're interested in you may want to look into different time periods.
The Warring States period is where Daoism emerges as a rival of Confucianism and Mohism. The two masterpieces, The Daodejing and The Zhuangzi, are consolidated into writing around this time. Its emphasis on perspective, transformation, and effortless action also come out of this period. Some spiritual practices like breath meditation predate this, but as I understand it most spiritual / supernatural elements emerge much later.
If that's the period you're most interested in, here are the intro resources I'd recommend:
Chad Hansen has done good work contextualizing Daoism to its historical context. Here is one such lecture. He has also written an introductory article for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy and another for the Zhuangzi specifically
Brook Ziporyn also made a good introduction to the Daodejing.
Karyn Lai has a published lecture series on Chinese philosophy that covers Daoism and its rivals
I listened to taoist audiobooks, mainly :
- dao de jing
- hua hu jing, inspiring and less cryptic than the first one
you can find these on yt.
Thank you, Arse Assassin. That looks like what I am looking for.
I wrote a book specifically for people like you. It's titled "Digging Your Own Well: Daoism as a Practical Philosophy". You can find for sale at many book sellers on line as either a paperback or ebook. It's meant to be affordable, so don't fall for a drop-seller.
I read the synopsis and it's exactly what I was looking for. Marvelous, thank you!