Book Description
This concise and reliable introduction to Taoism brings a fresh dimension to a tradition that has found a natural place in Western societies. Combining Taoist sacred texts with current scholarship, it surveys Taoism's ancient roots, contemporary heritage and role in daily life.
From Taoism's spiritual philosophy to its practical perspectives on life and death, self-cultivation, morality, society, leadership and gender, Russell Kirkland's essential guide reveals the real contexts behind concepts such as Feng Shui and Tai Chi. Written for those seeking a genuine introduction to an often misrepresented tradition, it highlights Taoism's key elements and explains its early origins and modern transformations.
About the Author
Russell Kirkland is Associate Professor of Religion and Asian Studies at the University of Georgia, and a member of the executive board of the Society for the Study of Chinese Religions. He has been writing on Taoism for over twenty years, publishing more than a dozen studies of Taoism and the religions of China. He has previously taught at Stanford University, the University of Missouri and Oberlin College, Ohio.
Taoism: The Enduring Tradition FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Taoism: The Enduring Tradition offers fresh perspectives on a religious and cultural tradition which has unfolded since the fifth century as a form of integration into the unseen realities of life. Exploring Taoist voices in sacred texts and current scholarship, and showing how Taoism differs from, and overlaps with, other Chinese traditions such as Confucianism and Zen Buddhism, it examines Taoism's ancient classical roots, contemporary heritage, and role in Chinese daily life." From Taoism's spiritual philosophy to its practical perspectives on life and death, self-cultivation, morality, society, leadership, and gender, Russell Kirkland brings to life the Taoist vision as expressed by followers through the centuries. Through attention to Taoism's key elements and examples from the lives of Taoist men and women, he reveals the real contexts of the Tao te ching and Chuang-tzu, and of Taoist understandings of life which still reverberate in modern practices such as feng-shui and t'ai-chi ch'uan. His guide to this long misrepresented tradition presents a new paradigm for understanding Taoism in the twenty-first century.
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