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Speaking as a person who is himself learning Daoism,I understand your struggle. It is almost universally acknowledged that the study of Daoism in the west is underdeveloped compared to buddhism.
But materials can be found if you know where to look. https://twitter.com/Hermes2110/status/1334847705537982466
But materials can be found if you know where to look. https://twitter.com/Hermes2110/status/1334847705537982466
I should qualify what I am speaking here; as i can only recommend books that I have already read- and my knowledge is far from complete. There are probably several more works than what I have listed below, but i hope you will find what i give useful.
The study of Daoism in the west seems to be divided into two parts-- Daoism as a philosophy, and Daoism as a religion. As for Daoism as a philosophy, we of course have the Dao De Jing, but there are also other philosophers, like Zhuangzi who have been translated into English
Zhuangzi is particularly interesting to the west, at least, because he is a sort of proto-anarchist.
John minford's translations of Sun Tzu's art of war, and the I Ching are also useful. They may not be Daoist works per se, but he illuminatingly explians them using daoist concepts.
His edition of the Dao De jing is also good.
His edition of the Dao De jing is also good.
As for the religious aspects of Daoism, the English literature is in a more scattered state. The study of this aspect suffered from a longstanding prejudice against Daoism, https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1319215118069108736 Thankfully, over the past 50 years this is reversing, and we have more works...
Much of the English works are academic books and articles, and not very accessible. If, howerver, you have library access or are a university student, typing in "Daoism" into the search bar will yeild a substantial amount of results
RF Campany's "To live as long as heaven and earth". It is a translation of Ge Hong's Biographies of the Immortals. 神仙传. Campany provides a lucid introduction to the cultivation of immortality, a goal that looms large in Daoist thought. It is eminently readable & entertaining
Several handbooks of Daoism have been published. Here is a massive 2 volume edition by brill, https://brill.com/view/title/6741 but i recall a shorter, 1-volume version also exists. This 1 volume version reads like an undergraduate textbook, but it is nonetheless valuable.
Buddhism & Doaism Face to face https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/buddhism-and-taoism-face-to-face-scripture-ritual-and-iconographic-exchange-in-medieval-china/
This is an extremely valuable book which shows the numerous intersections between Daoism and Buddhism; for example, mutual borrowings of deities and rituals.
This is an extremely valuable book which shows the numerous intersections between Daoism and Buddhism; for example, mutual borrowings of deities and rituals.
The Writ of the Three Sovereigns: From Local Lore to Institutional Daoism
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7r42j8
This is more esoteric, for it concerns a text that played an important role in the founding of Daoism, but has since been lost. The text was a series of amulets that gave
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv7r42j8
This is more esoteric, for it concerns a text that played an important role in the founding of Daoism, but has since been lost. The text was a series of amulets that gave
their possessors incredible temporal powers. I have written somewhat about it here https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1316635905281548288
Voices from the underworld: Chinese hell deity worship in contemporary Singapore and Malaysia https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526140579/
This book concerns what most in s/e asia consider Daoism-- the worship of chinese folk deities. It is an excellent insight into chinese folk religion...
This book concerns what most in s/e asia consider Daoism-- the worship of chinese folk deities. It is an excellent insight into chinese folk religion...
... and the context in which Daoism operates in today's society. It is also an excellent piece of scholarship https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1259807159648350208
- Unruly Gods: Divinity and Society in China
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wr0f7
The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture
- https://www.amazon.com/Sinister-Way-Demonic-Chinese-Religious/dp/0520234081
It has been some time since i read these books, but i can vouch for their goodness.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt6wr0f7
The Sinister Way: The Divine and the Demonic in Chinese Religious Culture
- https://www.amazon.com/Sinister-Way-Demonic-Chinese-Religious/dp/0520234081
It has been some time since i read these books, but i can vouch for their goodness.
Seconded: The texts translated are only a handfull, but they are worth reading,
Likewise for the Norton anthology's works on buddhism https://twitter.com/Projekt_A119/status/1334864343515738117
Likewise for the Norton anthology's works on buddhism https://twitter.com/Projekt_A119/status/1334864343515738117
Staying on the subject of folk reliugion, David K Jordans The Flying Phoenix: Aspects of Chinese Sectarianism in Taiwan https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691638560/the-flying-phoenix
is also worth a read
is also worth a read
if you want a really incisive criticism of western scholarship on daoism, this article may be interesting https://web.archive.org/web/20070102000401/http://kirkland.myweb.uga.edu/rk/pdf/pubs/pres/TENN97.pdf Choice quotes are exerpted below:
<it is also for this reason that I tend to be skeptical about popular books about Daoism. What is presented in these books is extremely distorted, if one knows the Chinese literature. I recall reading one book, describing the powers of Daoist magicins by retelling a story...
... of how one such magician managed to communicate with the spirit of the emperor's favorite concubine. This story comes from Bai Juyi's narrative poem, "The song of everlasting regret"; it is on the same level as using Harry Potter as a sourcebook of ceremonial magic!>
More on the topic of Chinese religion in general, Strickmann's Chinese Magical Medicine is a good read; it deals with magical and therougic practises across China-- eg seals that kill peope when impressed on a person's back, but bring them to life when stamped from the front
There are also many shorter articles on individual subjects -- for example Livya Kohn's Doumu, the mother of the Dipper, which has a complete translation of a Daoist astral deity liturgy https://brill.com/view/journals/mqyj/9/1/article-p149_149.xml
Several other useful articles
GAOSHANG YUHUANG BENXING JIJIN
- a translation of this daoist text about the Jade Emperor https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/mon.2014.62.1.005
GAOSHANG YUHUANG BENXING JIJIN
- a translation of this daoist text about the Jade Emperor https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/mon.2014.62.1.005
- Taoist Transcendence and Thunder Magic, As seen in the Great Rituals of Heavenly Ting of Metal and Fire in the Divine Empyrean (神霄金火天丁大法)
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.161.2.0415?seq=1
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.161.2.0415?seq=1
Florian C. Reiter' s Basic Conditions
of Taoist Thunder Magic may also be interesting. Here is an excerpt
https://www.oxbowbooks.com/pdfs/books/69435.pdf
of Taoist Thunder Magic may also be interesting. Here is an excerpt
https://www.oxbowbooks.com/pdfs/books/69435.pdf
Several Valuable PHD theses on Daoism:
Yang Wu's Transmission of Law and Merit:
A Comparative Study of Daoist Ordination Rite and Esoteric Buddhist abhiṣeka in Medieval China (400–907)
https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/217057/content/Wu_asu_0010E_19065.pdf
Yang Wu's Transmission of Law and Merit:
A Comparative Study of Daoist Ordination Rite and Esoteric Buddhist abhiṣeka in Medieval China (400–907)
https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/217057/content/Wu_asu_0010E_19065.pdf
Stephen Flanigan's Sacred Songs of the Central Altar: Texts and Histories of the Ritual Master in the Religious World of Southern Taiwan
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/66194
The author was ordained as a Daoist priest in the process of writing this
https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/handle/10125/66194
The author was ordained as a Daoist priest in the process of writing this
THE THREE SOVEREIGNS TRADITION:
TALISMANS, ELIXIRS, AND MEDITATION IN EARLY MEDIEVAL CHINA
https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:sz439qw2285/steavu.opt.dissertation-augmented.pdf
The thesis version of the "Writ of the Three sovereigns mentioned above"
TALISMANS, ELIXIRS, AND MEDITATION IN EARLY MEDIEVAL CHINA
https://stacks.stanford.edu/file/druid:sz439qw2285/steavu.opt.dissertation-augmented.pdf
The thesis version of the "Writ of the Three sovereigns mentioned above"
Sanskrit and Pseudo-Sanskrit Incantations in Daoist Ritual Texts by Joshua Capitanio
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/696568?journalCode=hr
An excellent article; for excerpts see https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1331921671146536963
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/696568?journalCode=hr
An excellent article; for excerpts see https://twitter.com/edwardW2/status/1331921671146536963
Related: Signs of Power: Talismanic Writing in Chinese Buddhism
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/11315419/RobsonSignsofPowerTaslimanicWriting1.pdf;jsessionid=709272B8D8779EF0C6AAC1DBA5B86E51?sequence=3
https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/11315419/RobsonSignsofPowerTaslimanicWriting1.pdf;jsessionid=709272B8D8779EF0C6AAC1DBA5B86E51?sequence=3
I should add, that often in reading books about buddhism, you will also find interesting and significant discussions of Daoism. Sørensen's "The worship of the Great Dipper in Korean Buddhism" has a significant section of Daoist Great Dipper worship
https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Dragon-Gate-Making-Modern/dp/0804831858
Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard
Despite the dramatic title, it is a translation of the spiritual biography of Wang Liping王力平 by Chen Kaiguo and Zheng Shunchao 陈开国 / 郑顺潮 (it is called 大道行 in Chinese)
Opening the Dragon Gate: The Making of a Modern Taoist Wizard
Despite the dramatic title, it is a translation of the spiritual biography of Wang Liping王力平 by Chen Kaiguo and Zheng Shunchao 陈开国 / 郑顺潮 (it is called 大道行 in Chinese)
This book is eminently readable, and is very educational.
Several twitter accounts here are worth following. @Zhongnin , regularly posts images of Daoist rituals and Scriptures. He is also an all-round expert on Daoism.
As for western scholars whose work intersects with of chinese religion, we have
@JeffreyKotyk
(he has a book of Daoist astrology coming out next year)
@Stevejonesblog
@James_A_Benn
@Lwolf55
@sam_vanschaik
@schrift_sprache @BabelStone
There are many more.
@JeffreyKotyk
(he has a book of Daoist astrology coming out next year)
@Stevejonesblog
@James_A_Benn
@Lwolf55
@sam_vanschaik
@schrift_sprache @BabelStone
There are many more.
