The best books on Taoism 📚

I come back to these short essays again and again. The author provides a very powerful way to look at ‘reality’ and question our assumptions about what is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ and what we (or others) ‘should’ do.

The classic study by Alan Watts with calligraphy and preface by Al Chung-liang Huang. This, Alan Watts’s final book, takes the reader on an exploration of Taoist philosophy, focusing on the world view inherent in the Chinese language, the dynamic balance of yin and yang, and the power of wu-wei, the art of flowing with the process. Watts’ insights and passion make the book a valued and enduring introduction to the world of Tao.

Some three decades ago I was teaching this work to a postgraduate class. At one point a young woman raised her hand. Professor she said, you do not understand. This is a Daoist Text.

It was as if a hammer had hit me on the head! I knew, or thought I knew, what war is, and I knew, or thought I knew, what Daoism is. What had never occurred to me was to bring the two together. Morale versus materiel. Strength versus weakness. Force versus guile. Maximum versus minimum force. The full versus the empty. And vice versa, of course.… show more.

This comprehensive, beautiful “rendition” (in Le Guin’s words) of Lao Tzu’s ancient wisdom packs an elegant spiritual punch, especially for the Western mind. I love that Le Guin was a teenager when she began studying her father’s 1898 version of the Tao. She worked for decades to create a version that would break the work’s enduring gaze toward the male-oriented “sage.” As she writes in the introduction: “I wanted a Book of the Way accessible to a present-day, unwise, unpowerful, and perhaps unmale reader, not seeking esoteric secrets, but listening for a voice that speaks to the soul.” Her commentary… show more.