The Taoist Tradition: An Introduction to Teachings, Schools, and Practices

This book provides a concise yet comprehensive introduction to Taoist thought and religion, treating them not as separate domains but as two inseparable aspects of a single tradition. Rather than privileging one over the other, it highlights their mutual interdependence and the ways in which they continually inform and shape one another. After two chapters on the thought of Laozi (Lao Tzu) and Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu), the book outlines the origins of the Taoist religion and the main schools that flourished throughout the first and second millennia. Subsequent chapters are devoted to the relation between Dao, and cosmos, and humans; ritual practices; the ideals of liberation and immortality; and the symbolic representations of the human body. The concluding chapters address the practices of “nourishing life,” meditation, and alchemy, both external and internal. Accessible and authoritative, this book offers readers a clear overview of the richness and diversity of the Taoist tradition.CONTENTSIntroduction1. Laozi The Daode jing (Book of the Way and Its Virtue) The Dao The Saint The Ruler2. Zhuangzi “The Knowledge that Does not Know” The Realized Man The Butterfly Dream Government, Ethics, and Self-Cultivation “Sitting and Forgetting” and the “Fasting of the Mind” The Zhuangzi and the Later Taoist Tradition3. The Ancient Period and the Divinization of Laozi The “Shamans” The Fangshi, or “Masters of the Methods” Huang-Lao Taoism The Huainan zi Messianism and Millenarianism The Divinization of Laozi4. Main Schools and Lineages Tianshi dao (Way of the Celestial Masters) The Southern Tradition Shangqing (Highest Clarity) Lingbao (Numinous Treasure) The Three Caverns and the Taoist Canon The Tang Period New Lineages in the Song Period Quanzhen (Complete Reality)5. Dao and Cosmos The Dao and the Ten Thousand Things Essence, Breath, Spirit Cosmogony Cosmology The Book of Changes Main Cosmological Emblems6. Heavens, Deities, and Rituals Taoist Heavens The Pantheon The Function of Writing Taoism and Divination Two Taoist Rituals7. Ways of Liberation Terminology Liberation in Taoism The Immortals “Simulating Death” “Release from the Mortal Body” Re-generation in Life Salvation after Death8. Views of the Human Body Body, Form, Person Models of “Symbolic Body” Macrocosm and Microcosms Main Components and Loci9. “Nourishing Life” Ethics and Self-Cultivation Main Practices Embryonic Breathing Taoist Criticism10. Meditation and Contemplation The Inner Gods The One and the Three Ones “Pacing the Celestial Net” Contemplation and Insight11. External Alchemy (Waidan) The Earliest Waidan Method The Taiqing (Great Clarity) Tradition Alchemy and Cosmology Main Methods The Decline of Waidan12. Internal Alchemy (Neidan) The Neidan Synthesis Main Lineages Nature and Existence Two Alchemical Charts of the Body The Three Stages Alchemy and “Non-Doing” Read more