Table of Contents

Introduction

PART I: THE TEXT

Chapter 1: Times and Authorship
The Axial Age
The Warring States
Confucianism
Yin-Yang Cosmology
Laozi
The Laozi Legend
Divinization

Chapter 2: Textual Development
Language
Texts in Tombs
Guodian
Mawangdui
Heshang gong
Standardization
Wang Bi

Chapter 3: General Principles
Dao
Cosmic Unfolding
Natural Dynamics
Self-Being
Virtue
Images and Metaphors

Chapter 4: Social Application
Nonaction
Social Reality
Sufficiency
Humility and Simplicity
Clarity and Stillness
Sagehood

PART II: TRADITIONAL EXPANSIONS

Chapter 5: Communities and Politics
Primitivism
Self-Cultivation
Longevity Techniques
Inward Training
The Jixia Academy
Syncretism and Huang-Lao
Masters of Methods

Chapter 6: Devotional Activation
Early Recitation
The Celestial Masters
Immortality
Meditation
Ritual Veneration
Ordination
Integrated Practice

Chapter 7: Commentary Exegeses
The Nature of Commentaries
Ideal Rulership
Personal Self-Cultivation
Original Nonbeing
Western Ascension
Mystical Attainment

Chapter 8: Later Developments
Twofold Mystery
Imperial Attention
Song Huizong
Internal Alchemy
Daode jing Readings
Clarity and Stillness
The Qingjing jing

PART III: MODERN RECEPTION

Chapter 9: China Today
Religious Veneration
Academic Study
Intellectual Engagement
Politics and Education
Ecology
Cognitive Therapy
Self-Help

Chapter 10: In the World
Eastern Transmission
Early Western Reception
Seeing Dao
Philosophical Adaptation
Popular Understanding
Multiple Readings

Chapter 11: English Translations
Types of Translations
Literal Translations
Historical Scholarship
Philosophical Readings
Poetic Versions
Social Applications
Self-Help Manuals
Whimsical Renditions

Chapter 12: Western Adaptations
Daoist Leadership
Doing Business
Ecology
The Tao of . . .
Literary Allegories
Songs of Dao

About the Author

Livia Kohn, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Religion and East Asian Studies at Boston University. The author or editor of over 40 books, she now lives in Florida, serves as the executive editor of the Journal of Daoist Studies, and runs various workshops and conferences.

Reviews

"The volume is a succinct one, the main text consists only of 116 pages: but those pages are busy with instructive narrative, data, and illustrations; it is thus a recommended text for all students of comparative and Asian religions." -- Lehel Balogh, Hokkaido University, Religious Studies Review