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Author: Thomas Michael
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791483177
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 184
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Book Description
The Laozi (Daodejing) and the Zhuangzi have long been familiar to Western readers and have served as basic sources of knowledge about early Chinese Daoism. Modern translations and studies of these works have encouraged a perception of Daoism as a mystical philosophy heavy with political implications that advises kings to become one with the Dao. Breaking with this standard approach, The Pristine Dao argues that the Laozi and the Zhuangzi participated in a much wider tradition of metaphysical discourse that included a larger corpus of early Chinese writings. This book demonstrates that early Daoist discourse possessed a distinct, textually constituted coherence and a religious sensibility that starkly differed from the intellectual background of all other traditions of early China, including Confucianism. The author argues that this discourse is best analyzed through its emergence from the mythological imagination of early China, and that it was unified by a set of notions about the Dao that was shared by all of its participants. The author introduces certain categories from the Western religious and philosophical traditions in order to bring out the distinctive qualities constituting this discourse and to encourage its comparison with other religious and philosophical traditions.
Author: Thomas Michael
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 0791483177
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 184
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Book Description
The Laozi (Daodejing) and the Zhuangzi have long been familiar to Western readers and have served as basic sources of knowledge about early Chinese Daoism. Modern translations and studies of these works have encouraged a perception of Daoism as a mystical philosophy heavy with political implications that advises kings to become one with the Dao. Breaking with this standard approach, The Pristine Dao argues that the Laozi and the Zhuangzi participated in a much wider tradition of metaphysical discourse that included a larger corpus of early Chinese writings. This book demonstrates that early Daoist discourse possessed a distinct, textually constituted coherence and a religious sensibility that starkly differed from the intellectual background of all other traditions of early China, including Confucianism. The author argues that this discourse is best analyzed through its emergence from the mythological imagination of early China, and that it was unified by a set of notions about the Dao that was shared by all of its participants. The author introduces certain categories from the Western religious and philosophical traditions in order to bring out the distinctive qualities constituting this discourse and to encourage its comparison with other religious and philosophical traditions.
Author: Thomas Michael
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791464755
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 182
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Book Description
A new reading of Daoism, arguing that it originated in a particular textual tradition distinct from Confucianism and other philosophical traditions of early China.
Author: Daniel Fried
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438471939
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 336
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Book Description
Provides a new perspective on important linguistic issues in philosophical and religious Daoism through the comparative lens of twentieth-century European philosophies of language. From its earliest origins in the Dao De Jing, Daoism has been known as a movement that is skeptical of the ability of language to fully express the truth. While many scholars have compared the earliest works of Daoism to language-skeptical movements in twentieth-century European philosophy and have debated to what degree early Daoism does or does not resemble these recent movements, Daniel Fried breaks new ground by examining a much broader array of Daoist materials from ancient and medieval China and showing how these works influenced ideas about language in medieval religion, literature, and politics. Through an extended comparison with a broad sample of European philosophical works, the book explores how ideas about language grow out of a given historical moment and advances a larger argument about how philosophical and religious ideas cannot be divided into content and context. Fried combines the disciplines of semiotics with a largely philosophical approach, thus offering fresh insights into both disciplines, while looking at issues from multiple perspectives. Steven Burik, author of The End of Comparative Philosophy and the Task of Comparative Thinking: Heidegger, Derrida, and Daoism
Author: Mingjun Lu
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004503544
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 332
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Book Description
In The Metaphysics of Chinese Moral Principles, author Mingjun Lu seeks to construct and establish the metaphysics of Chinese morals as a formal and independent branch of learning by abstracting and systemizing the universal principles presupposed by the primal virtues and key imperatives in Daoist and Confucian ethics. Lu proposes that the metaphysical foundation of Chinese moral principles, as reinstated in this book, brings to light not only the universality of its core values and ideals but also a pivotal though hitherto neglected key to the enduring vibrancy of a civilization that has lasted several millennia.
Author: Ronnie Littlejohn
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 143843457X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
The Liezi is the forgotten classic of Daoism. Along with the Laozi (Daodejing) and the Zhuangzi, it's been considered a Daoist masterwork since the mid-eighth century, yet unlike those well-read works, the Liezi is little known and receives scant scholarly attention. Nevertheless, the Liezi is an important text that sheds valuable light on the early history of Daoism, particularly the formative period of sectarian Daoism. We do not know exactly what shape the original text took, but what remains is replete with fantastic characters, whimsical tales, paradoxical aphorisms, and philosophically sophisticated reflection on the nature of the world and humanity's place within it. Ultimately, the Liezi sees the world as one of change and indeterminacy. Arguing for the Liezi's historical, philosophical, and literary significance, the contributors to this volume offer a fresh look at this text, using contemporary approaches and providing novel insights. The volume is unique in its attention to both philosophical and religious perspectives.
Author: Thomas Michael
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438458991
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 334
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Book Description
Thomas Michael's study of the early history of the Daodejing reveals that the work is grounded in a unique tradition of early Daoism, one unrelated to other early Chinese schools of thought and practice. The text is associated with a tradition of hermits committed to yangsheng, a particular practice of physical cultivation involving techniques of breath circulation in combination with specific bodily movements leading to a physical union with the Dao. Michael explores the ways in which the text systematically anchored these techniques to a Dao-centered worldview. Including a new translation of the Daodejing, In the Shadows of the Dao opens new approaches to understanding the early history of one of the world's great religious texts and great religious traditions.
Author: Laozi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Author: Mark Csikszentmihalyi
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791441121
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296
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Book Description
Leading scholars examine religious and philosophical dimensions of the Chinese classic known as the Daodejing or Laozi.
Author:
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438446519
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 470
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Book Description
An anthology of English translations of primary texts of the Quanzhen (Complete Perfection) school of Daoism.
Author: Paul Kjellberg
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438409214
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268
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Book Description
The Chinese philosophical text Zhuangzi, written in part by a man named Zhuangzi in late fourth century B.C.E. China, is gaining recognition as one of the classics of world literature. Writing in beautiful prose and poetry, Zhuangzi mixes humor with relentless logic in attacking claims to knowledge about the world, particularly evaluative knowledge of what is good and bad or right and wrong. His arguments seem to admit of no escape. And yet where does that leave us? Zhuangzi himself clearly does not think that our situation is utterly hopeless, since at the very least he must have some reason for thinking we are better off aware of our ignorance. This book addresses the question of how Zhuangzi manages to sustain a positive moral vision in the face of his seemingly sweeping skepticism. Zhuangzi is compared to the Greek philosophers Plato and Sextus Empiricus in order to pinpoint more exactly what he doubts and why. Also examined is Zhuangzi's views on language and the role that language plays in shaping the reality we perceive. The authors test the application of Zhuangzi's ideas to contemporary debates in critical theory and to issues in moral philosophical thought such as the establishment of equal worth and the implications of ethical relativism. They also explore the religious and spiritual dimensions of the text and clarify the relation between Zhuangzi and Buddhism.
