The Tao of the West : Western transformations of Taoist thought

In this book, J.J. Clarke shows us how Taoist texts, ideas, and practices have been assimilated within a whole range of Western ideas and agendas. We see how Chinese thinkers such as Lao-tzu and Chuang tzu, along with practices such as Feng Shui and Tai Chi, have been used as a key Western inspiration in religion, philosophy, ethics, politics, ecology and health. The Tao of the West not only provides a fascinating introduction to Taoism, it also offers a timely insight into the history of the West's encounter with this ancient tradition, and into the issues arising from inter-cultural dialogue. Anyone interested in understanding the key influence Taoism has had on the West will welcome and embrace this book. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Preface......Page 10 'The Way that can be told': introduction......Page 14 Ways and means......Page 22 The way to the West......Page 25 'The meaning is not the meaning': on the nature of Daoism......Page 29 The 'Three Teachings'......Page 35 Historical origins......Page 41 'Cramped scholars': Western interpretations of Daoism......Page 50 Reading Daoism......Page 63 'The Great Clod': Daoist natural philosophy......Page 76 Cosmology: the standard picture......Page 82 Science: a new paradigm?......Page 87 Environmentalism: new ways?......Page 94 'Going rambling without destination': moral explorations......Page 103 The ethics of self-cultivation......Page 108 The politics of anarchism......Page 116 Women and gender......Page 124 'The transformation of things': the alchemy of life, sex and health......Page 130 The Way of inner cultivation......Page 135 The Way of sexuality......Page 141 The Way of good health......Page 149 'The Way is incommunicable': transcendence......Page 153 Mysticism made visible: landscape painting......Page 162 Transcendence......Page 172 'The twitter of birds': philosophical themes......Page 179 Scepticism, relativism and irrationalism......Page 188 Postmodernism......Page 197 'Journey to the West': by way of concluding......Page 207 Beyond Daoism......Page 216 Chinese dynastic chronology......Page 225 Wade Giles/Pinyin conversion table......Page 226 Notes......Page 227 Bibliography......Page 247 Name index......Page 272 Subject index......Page 278 "In this book, J.J. Clarke shows us how Taoist texts, ideas and practices have been assimilated within a whole range of Western interests and agendas. We see how Chinese thinkers such as Lao-tzu and Chuang tzu, along with practices such as feng-shui and tai chi, have been used as key Western inspirations in religion, philosophy, ethics, politics, ecology and health. The Tao of the West not only provides a fascinating introduction to Taoism, but it offers a timely insight into the history of the West's encounter with this ancient tradition and into the issues arising from inter-cultural dialogue. Anyone interested in understanding Taoism and the influence it has had on the West will welcome and embrace this book. Book jacket."--Jacket In this book J.J Clarke shows us how Taoist texts, ideas and practices have been assimilated within a whole range of Western ideas and agendas. A fascinating introduction to Taoism and the history of the West's encounter with it. J.j. Clarke. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 234-258) And Indexes.