(Part 3) Top products from r/taoism

No worries. Glad I can be of assistance. A couple quick comments to make, however.

>I wasn't even sure that god was real. I mean, the logical part says that he's probably not. But the instinct part feels uncomfortable with the idea. To outright state that God does not exist bothers me for some unknown reason.

First of all, I think that this is a common misconception among many people today for a couple of reasons. First of all, logic as far as I understand it has gone both ways. Yes, a number of philosophers and scientists today are convinced of a lack of God, but there are also a number of thinkers who are using logic to demonstrate his existence. A really good one to check out if you're interested is Alvin Plantinga, a very well respected analytic philosopher who's also a Christian. I'm not trying to convert you, but rather would like to give you some options if you're interested in being rational and religious. And he's got a couple books you may find interesting. 1 and 2. I've only read parts of the first one, and found it very interesting. I'd recommend reading his essays on reformed epistemology, and his work on naturalism being irrational. Very good reading, and not terribly technical, so you should be able to get into it just fine.

And on the note of instinctual belief in God, I'd say don't be afraid to trust in your instincts. As one of my profs told me, gut-feeling's don't make for great philosophical arguments in themselves, but they do often indicate that there's the possibility of an argument being made. You often know a lot more than you realize; all the reading, studying and analysis is simply finding ways to express it to others. So yeah, don't be so hesitant to trust yourself. Good luck.

Accurate might not be what you're after.

If you mean "accurate" in terms of "reflects the idiosyncracies of the original text", then a translation by a Victorian scholar like Herbert Giles or James Legge would be good. I actually find this type of translation to be very helpful, especially if it's annotated which Legge's is. When he does use the word "God", he always explains that it's an interpolation based on the context in which the quote is found.

If you mean "accurate" in terms of "reflects the style and character of the original text", then a more modern translation like that of D.C. Lau might be good.

Burton Watson's Complete Works of Chuang Tzu leans more toward the former, and although I haven't read it, I've been told that Victor Mair's Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu leans more toward the latter. Both are reputed to strike a good balance between literal accuracy and the spirit of the text.

My Asian Religions professor liked to use original texts only in her syllabi. Her reasoning was along the lines of: "why would you read someone else's interpretation when you could read the texts themselves and draw your own conclusions?" I tend to agree with that line of logic (I do understand that books such as the one mentioned can provide a good primer, but you've already that, why not move into the "meat" of the matter?). So, my suggestion would be:

• The Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (the D.C. Lau translation is notable and my favorite)
  
• The Chuang-Tzu by Chuang-Tzu (Burton Watson is an amazing translator and this one is particularly notable)
  
• The Lieh-Tzu by Lieh-Tzu (A.C. Graham translation)
  
  And that should cover a broad range of the "philosophical" side of Taoism. As for the alchemies and the more, shall we say, "eccentric" branches, well, that's a whole different animal. Personally, I haven't delved too much into that side, since there is such an overwhelming amount of texts and practices and schools and etc. However, The Secret of the Golden Flower and Yellow Court Classic are two "big" ones. I'd start there and branch out accordingly.

Well first, paging /u/jamesteaking, he certainly knows much more about this than I do.

Regarding #2 specifically, I recently picked up The Tao of Craft, and while the book's definitely not focused on Neidan, it does cover Taoist consecration of tools/area, and contains other information throughout the book that could certainly be useful for establishing a sacred space. It's not an excessively traditional text in that Benebell Wen's not an ordained Taoist of any sort, but it provides well researched general methodology, with advice for personalizing it if you want to.

I was actually intending to write a small review of that book for the sub, partly as a way to go over my own thoughts on it. Been busy, but if anyone's incredibly interested in a more detailed review of it (given that I'm a relatively novice Taoist myself) let me know and I'll push that further up my to do list.

Tao Te Ching: A New Translation with Commentary by Ellen Chen. She deals with linguistics, showing you how a word was used in other contemporary works. Having studied paleo writings systems and ancient languages, I know how meanings change over time. So her approach was perfect for the way my mind works and gave me greater insight into what is being conveyed. Saves me from having to learn ancient Chinese to better understand the text. :)

Like Equas said, you'll find a lot of the history of Daoism in bigger overviews of Chinese history. There's one I'm reading now that I found in a used bookstore called Sources of Chinese Tradition, which is a multi-volume work. The first volume has two chapters devoted to Taoism and Neo-Taoism respectively, and also talks about it whenever it comes into play with other religious periods.

I also highly recommend the book itself. I'm only a little ways through it because it is indeed very dry, but it's done a fantastic job of explaining the roots of Chinese traditions so far.

I found the book online in a couple places:

Amazon

Alibris

Its my understanding that modern mandarin differs from the ancient mandarin the text was written in to such an extent that you might as well read it in English since that is your native tongue; and I would recommend the D.C Lau or Jonathon Starr english translation. That being said, the copy you were given is likely just fine and there are a few Etymologists that hang around here that are qualified to say that with any certainty. There is a reading material link on the side-bar you should check out, but I guess the major texts you're going to need in addition to your TTC are the Zhuangzi, the Liezi (Liezi is somewhat controversial but definitely worth the read), and the Huiananzi (This is a much later Han Dynasty text that is optional but interesting). I would also recommend getting several different translations of the TTC and the Zhuangzi in order to see the different ways in which people have interpreted the text.

This one is my favorite (by Johnathan Star):

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Ching-Definitive-Lao-Tzu/dp/158542269X

This is not a pocket edition, and in fact is quite large, because it has a verbatim translation in the back as well as a fairly sizable introduction, which explains some of the difficulties when translating such a text. The gist of his style is to leave the mystery in the words. So he tries to leave the same level of ambiguity from the original Chinese in the translation of each passage.
For a smaller version by Johnathan Star:

http://www.amazon.com/Tao-Ching-Translation-Definitive-Cornerstone/dp/1585426180

Although this one is pretty much just the text.

I enjoyed this Burton Watson translation, although it's not the complete collection, it includes the most important parts. https://www.amazon.com/Zhuangzi-Basic-Writings/dp/0231129599

I'm curious what others think of Watson's translation?

A good description of wu wei from a non-Taoist, western perspective is the Flow by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi.

https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202

From the wiki:

> In an interview with Wired magazine, Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."[12]

Yi-Ping Ong's translation was my first read of the Tao Te Cheng. As I've read more various translations, this one I still consider the most "authentic" reading in English of the original:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/tao-te-ching-lao-tzu/1100013724?ean=9781593082567


On the other hand, my personal favorite and simplest translation (the one I share if people ask me about taoism) is Jonathan Star's translation. Very different than Yi-Ping's but conveys the messages in 'layman's terms'. I do not think it is 1:1 though:
https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Ching-Translation-Definitive-Cornerstone/dp/1585426180/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1494859323&sr=8-1&keywords=Tao+Te+Ching%3A+The+New+Translation+from+Tao+Te+Ching

Have you read 10% Happier? The author, a fairly well-known NBC newsman, had the same experience with meditation.

https://www.amazon.com/10-Happier-Revised-Self-Help-Works/dp/0062917609/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=10%25+happier&qid=1572254190&s=books&sr=1-1

You have to read The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura. I think this is exactly what you're looking for. He has a whole chapter dedicated solely to Taoism and "Teaism".

I found I found Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu): Basic Writings, translated by Burton Watson helpful. It's very coherent as Watson has gone through the work of Zhuangzi and presented us with much core, essential material.

Consider the classic Daodejing. There are many, many translations. My personal favorites are Liu Ming, Red Pine and Ellen Chen.

Rune Soup! It's great if you're into modern occulty stuff but they have individual episodes on a pretty wide variety of esoteric bullshit and whatnot. I don't remember the name of the exact episode but it's the one with the author of Tao of Craft.

This book has been very helpful in this arena. Modern day practice of the principles and flows. There is nothing perfect about the Dao, so do not strive for perfection.

https://www.amazon.com/Sufism-Taoism-Comparative-Philosophical-Concepts/dp/0520052641

http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520052642

https://www.scribd.com/document/263605121/sufism-and-taoism-a-comparat

http://www.seekeraftertruth.com/toshihiko-izutsu-sufism-taoism/

Here’s a new one. https://www.amazon.com/Voice-Elders-Greg-Ripley-ebook/dp/B079YZ2LZH

Check out the Way of Solomon, a Taoist translation/interpretation of the Book of Ecclesiastes, written by a Rabbi. For reals.

http://www.amazon.com/Everyday-Tao-Living-Balance-Harmony/dp/0062513958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344318001&sr=8-1&keywords=Everyday+tao

https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Parenting-Ageless-Raising-Children/dp/0452280052

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 have read it? Are you literate in Chinese? I've only read citations from it from various works and D.C Lau's Yuan Dao: Tracing the Dao to It's Source, all of which has impressed me.

There's this translation of the whole thing in English, but I am unsure of its quality and is a bit expensive and so I have put off purchasing it.

Speaking of Archaeology... The future will be dominated by conservatives - The Collapse of Complex Societies. We're already on the downslope of industiral society.