(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best taoism books

1. I believe this question and answer answer your first question. Would you like more detail? (I am happy to provide more if you want!)
   
2. history of Daoism and/or internal alchemy - fantastic question - I wish I had someone to tell me the answer about 15 years ago! Anyway - here is a select reading list:
   
   

• Isabelle Robinet's Taoism: Growth of a Religion is perhaps the best single volume overview of the history of Daoism out there, but it only goes to the Yuan. And it is a great price.
  
  
• For later movements, or in fact the full history of Daoism - Livia Kohn's (ed) Daoism: Handbook two-volume set is fantastic, but it is ridiculously expensive due to it being an academic library reference text. But I recommend it if you are serious about learning about Daoism.
  
  
• Lastly, Livia Kohn's Introducing Daoism is an excellent overview of both the history and practice of Daoism. She is really (in my opinion) the top Daoist scholar in the the US and Europe. Her writing also happens to be readable, and Introducing Daoism is intended for a less academic audience.
  
  Mountains! Well this is my area. As I wrote elsewhere here, Mountains are an absolutely core element of Daoism. The mountain men were absorbed/co-opted by the Daoists, who took on the mantle of the classic mountain ascetics. Buddhists had their share, and in fact many mountains were shared spaces by both Daoists and Buddhists (and remain so today).
  Mountains were key elements in general chinese cosmology - they are the organs of the earth, they generate life-giving Qi - a metaphor for the minerals and water that pour out of the mountains. These qualities were enumerated and well understood by Daoists as they began developing mountain practice in the 4th-5th centuries. Mountains formed the basis of several major and minor sects, who all have a primary (and secondary and tertiary, etc) mountain. For the Shangqing Sect that was Mt. Mao.
  
  But as I also wrote elsewhere in the AMA, mountains are a key part of all daoist practice, as one does not only ascend physical mountains, but also ascends internal mountains.
  Add into this that the mountains house the cave heavens (洞天), and you have both the heights and the depths of the earth locked into Daoist geo-cosmology. The cave heavens were also real and imagined spaces. A daoist might physically travel into a cave below a mountain, but more often the daoist would simply discover the cave heaven within themselves, in meditation. The cave heavens were putatively connected to each other, forming a sacred geographical web across the entire landscape of imperial China. The mainlines of the web were between the 5 sacred peaks, the 10 greater cave heavens and the great mountains of the west, Kunlun and the east, Penglai.
  
  For common people, the physical mountains were places they would take annual pilgrimages to, a practice that millions undergo to this day at Mount Tai, the sacred peak of the East.
  But the mountains of Daoism also might enter a person's home, when a Daoist priest is called to perform a ritual at the home. There a miniature mountain is constructed by the Daoist - this kind of microcosmic sacred geography is described in detail in Rolf Stein's The World in Miniature.
  That's all I have right now, I hope it is helpful.
  

You have to understand the context to understand the references to meditation. You might enjoy this:

The Thread of Dao: Unraveling Early Daoist Oral Traditions in Guan Zi’s Purifying the Heart-Mind (Bai Xin), Art of the Heart-Mind (Xin Shu), and Internal Cultivation (Nei Ye), by Dan G. Reid

" When calm and still, order naturally arrives.Force cannot widely establish such order.Wisdom cannot formulate all strategies.- Xin Shu Shang

Ancient Chinese meditation and mindfulness traditions were often imparted through Daoist wisdom on governance and health preservation. Within these teachings lie subtle instructions in “the art of the heart-mind" — the Sages' technique for self purification, cultivating enlightenment and harmony within, and fostering virtue throughout the world.

While Lao Zi is said to be the founder of Daoism (Taoism) and author of the Dao De Jing, his classic on attaining the way of Nature is believed to have transmitted an earlier oral tradition. Modern scholars now believe that four texts, found in the ancient “Guan Zi” encyclopedia, are likely to have predated the completion of the Dao De Jing. These texts, "Purifying the Heart-Mind (Bai Xin)," "Art of the Heart-Mind (Xin Shu I&II)," and "Internal Cultivation (Nei Ye)," provide exceptionally direct explanations of Daoist spiritual, mental, and energetic cultivation, making them invaluable keys to the teachings of early Daoist masters. Thread of Dao translates and explores these texts alongside comparable teachings in the Dao De Jing and other Daoist, Buddhist, Confucian, and traditional Chinese medical sources, tracing their origins to a common thread of wisdom.

In translating Guan Zi’s "Purifying the Heart-Mind (Bai Xin)," "Art of the Heart-Mind (Xin Shu I&II)," and "Internal Cultivation (Nei Ye)," Reid justifies the “received” version of these texts, rather than adopting revisions commonly accepted by modern scholars, making Thread of Dao a valuable contribution to several fields of Chinese studies, including Daoist and Buddhist Studies, pre-Qin history, Classical Chinese, and Chinese Political Science. "

The Thread of Dao

Here's some further reading!


The best and most academically accepted translation of the Dao De Jing

Here, A.C. Graham is an intensely clever and erudite Sinologist - Disupters is definitely a "classic" in the literature of early Eastern philosophy.

Great book on a lesser known section of the Zhuangzi, which Roth shows to be the origin of meditative practice in Daoism. Roth is also my Prof!

A great translation by the same A.C. Graham of most of the chapters of the Zhuangzi. The Zhuangzi, different from the Laozi, uses narratives and short essays in deeply stratified, humorous, and incredibly profound ways well ahead of its time.

Source: I've been studying contemplative practices, cultural anthropology, and Chinese philosophy for most of my undergrad

Daoism is wonderful, but in the West, it's even more common to find New Age ideas among self-proclaimed Daoists who have read the Dao De Jing and called it a day than it is to find Westerners misrepresenting the dharma. Many think it's simply about doing whatever you want or "going with the flow", paying no mind to the thousands of years of philosophical development. To fully grasp it, you absolutely must spend time around hereditary Daoists from places like China, or at least read about them. There is a big difference in how historical Daoists have practiced versus what people on the internet do.

I would stay away from books like the Tao of Pooh, or anything similarly named The Tao of [X] personally. They might be entertaining, but they are often not correct. For a beginner, I would instead recommend Seven Taoist Masters, translated by Eva Wong. It's a narrative, but it introduces many of the core ideas of a significant number of Daoists and requires less interpretation than do things like the DDJ.

For some information on Daoist practice in China, there are the Daoism chapters in The Souls of China by the journalist Ian Johnson.

Finally, if you are interested in something a little more dry and historical, take a look at Early Daoist Scriptures, which goes into many ideas that internet Daoists won't discuss. Things like spirit bureaucracy and mediation between realms.

Don't let yourself fall into the trap that many others do when approaching it, which is to arrogantly assume you know everything after reading a single book and are now in tune with the universe. Daoist ideas are just as rich as the Buddhist canon and the Western world desperately needs a more nuanced understanding of it.

Haha, good luck. Taoism is a huge topic. The best I can do is recommend a book from Alan Watts.

[Deng Ming-Dao ](The Wisdom of the Tao: Ancient Stories that Delight, Inform, and Inspire https://www.amazon.com/dp/1571748377/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_dK9mDbZ4PSBK2) does a lot of that. This one seems perfect.

There are lots of good stories in the Zhuangzi (Daoist), and Gateless Gate (Zen). These stories are often good for kids (mostly the Zhuangzi ones), but you may need to re-tell them in your own words. That's always better anyway.

One of my favourite folk tales is a Japanese one that comes up on this sub a lot, called The Stonecutter. This one's perfect for kids as is!

Get yourself some audiobooks and a bike. Physical activity helps settle your nerves and gets you out of the worrying about other people's opinions.

If you had a controlling or abusive parent, I'm sorry, and with distance and boundaries between you and them, some of this constant over vigilance will diminish over time. (That is a common cause of this sort of over vigilance)

Here are some audiobooks I suggest for your rides:

A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy

The 7 Habits of Self-Loving People

Gifts of Imperfection


Here are some paper/kindle books also in this vein:

Non-Violent communication is about talking to people intimately, baring yourself vulnerably to them. It's about not demanding things. It's also about talking to yourself with similar kindness and gentleness (which you're likely not doing)

The Tao is Silent is a mathematician playing with accepting ideas, some of which are vaguely influenced by Taoism. The chapter on Dogs and Free Will I always found personally very freeing.

Eva Wong's Seven Taoist Masters is a great translation of Daoist folk novel from China.

Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality
https://www.amazon.com/Taoist-Yoga-Kuan-Charles-Luk/dp/0877280673

Internal Elixir Cultivation: The Nature of Daoist Meditation
https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Elixir-Cultivation-Nature-Meditation/dp/1943155135/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1478006245&sr=1-2&keywords=internal+elixir+cultivation

Healing Light of the Tao: Foundational Practices to Awaken Chi Energy
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1594771138/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=2P7K1FW99QSDG12HVPZA

Foundations of Internal Alchemy: The Taoist Practice of Neidan
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0984308253/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5KF0N4TFRQQQ4PCVCH6F

The Tao of Meditation: Way to Enlightenment
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0804814651/ref=pd_sim_14_25?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=5KF0N4TFRQQQ4PCVCH6F

The Seven Taoist Masters, translated by Eva Wong, original author unknown

Shameless plug for my mentor's book: http://www.amazon.com/Do-Nothing-Everything-Illustrated-Taoism/dp/1557788898/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348933621&sr=1-1&keywords=do+nothing+and+do+everything

This "new taoism" idea is basically just his personal take on how the concept of wu wei fits into modern life. It's a very easy read, with lots of pictures.

Read a version of the Dao De Jing thats not done my Steven Mitchell and read Eva Wong's "Taoism an Essential Guide"

https://www.amazon.com/Taoism-Essential-Guide-Eva-Wong/dp/1522662200

P.S If you actually want to learn Taoism don't read Tao of Pooh

There were debates between Daoism and Buddhism during during the reign of Emperor Wu. See, Laughing at the Tao.

Daoists even tried to claim that Laozi was actually the Buddha. See, Huahujing.

>"Lao Tzu had gone to India after his westward departure from China, and had converted—or become—the Buddha. Buddhism then was only a somewhat distorted offshoot of Taoism."

Edit For an interesting example of Daoist-Confucian-Buddhist syncretism see the Wuzhen pian, translated by Cleary and Predagio.

Eight Immortals of Taoism is in that direction.

Monkey: Journey to the West](https://www.amazon.com/Monkey-Journey-West-David-Kherdian/dp/1590302583/ref=sr_1_2) Might be up your alley. It has been a long time since I read it.

Even an old Dieties and Demigods from The Dungeons and Dragons game would have some basic information on them, but you can probably find just as much online.

You don't get into Taoism. It is already in you. It is in me. It simply is.
Read this. Alan Watts is a genius on Buddhism and Taoism.

Keep in mind that at that time, nobody was going around saying "I am a Taoist" or "I am part of the Confucian school" etc, because these distinctions were created by later generations as a way to categorize these philosophies. So you can find elements of Taoism in Confucianism, Legalism, or The Art of War. The ideas are more mixed together earlier than they came to be now. This book does a good job of describing that sort of concept.

Io ho l'edizione della Feltrinelli curata da Sabbadini: è buona, ma col tempo ho imparato che non lo è tanto quanto credevo. Ho sentito parlare tanto bene di questa versione.

How about his own personal translation of the DDJ?


https://www.amazon.com/Dao-Jing-Philosophical-Roger-Ames-ebook/dp/B003JPW0EW

Why shorten the URL?

http://www.amazon.com/Dao-Jing-Philosophical-Roger-Ames-ebook/dp/B003JPW0EW/

What is Tao - Alan Watts

Do you mean http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Taoist-Immortals-Eva-Wong/dp/1570628092?

[Task] Looking for Textbook. This is it Thus Spoke Laozi. Will pay 3$ for either pdf, .mobi, or .epub