Reviews for Taoism: The Enduring Tradition

The average rating for Taoism: The Enduring Tradition based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-11-19 00:00:00 John Steverding First and foremost, potential readers should be fairly warned: this book is primarily a survey of Western scholarship on Taoism, not a history of Taoism itself. Which isn't to say the two aren't interrelated (they necessarily are); this is just to say the reader should not be expecting a beginner's guide to Taoist history. Kirkland's ideal audience appears to be Sinologists and students of religion who do not specialize in Taoism, so the prose is of a somewhat stilted, simplified academic style. Furthermore, Kirkland takes on an annoyingly triumphalist tone that current scholarship is much less naive, imperialistic, erroneous, etc. than any of its predecessors. He rightly emphasizes the diversity of the Taoist tradition throughout the 2+ millennia of its existence, but does so in a way that makes it seem like he's overcorrecting past scholars' mistakes. He consistently shrinks from generalities, for good and for ill. Another point of contention I have with this book is Kirkland's inconsistency in translating technical terms. For example, the term zhen 真 (or chen), often used to describe one of Taoism's highest ideals, becomes at times real/realized, perfect/perfected, and true/truth. The term xian 仙 (or hsien) he'll often translate as "immortal" (an extremely misleading translation which Sinology no longer uses) and other times translate (more accurately) as "transcendent." Even several titles of works from the Taoist canon change from page to page. For all its flaws, though, Taoism: The Enduring Tradition provides a wealth of information about the historical development of Taoism. Kirkland's emphasis on particularities brings forth descriptions of many interesting historical figures and situations which have often been neglected in the West. However, these figures and situations become evidence to prove his thesis that recent Western scholarship of Taoism needs to correct the mistakes of past scholarship, rather than things to be studied in their own right.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-10-14 00:00:00 Bruce Hamilton When Tolstoy had a Massive Enlightenment experience in mid age, his illusions were irreparably shattered. He saw clearly now that he had goofed up - big time - with War and Peace and Anna Karenina, the very blockbusters that had made him a worldwide household name. Like Sartre, the irruption of the Absurd had set his world - and his Very Fame - on its head. And Tolstoy knew he had had it all wrong. For his vision of a happy family was based on a petit bourgeois sham, as Sartre saw. Instead of all happy families now being the same, as in 'Anna', all 'happy' families were now just 'keeping up with appearances' and making do. And yet pop Christianity puts the 'nuclear family' on a pedestal... No, Tolstoy thought - unhappy couples trying to make their marriages WORK are the Happy Ones! The Lord does the rest. So, you see, unlike Sartre, Tolstoy had found HOPE. It's basic Taoism. Work alongside things taking their natural course - with a Faith that they'll work out! But Tolstoy was a towering Genius, and thus had a Daemon within him that wanted to subvert 'normal' faith. So he opposed the national church. He supported splinter groups like Canada's immigrant Dukhubors. He wreaked merry mayhem in Czarist Russia, and even this whole polite planet was too small for his raging iconoclasm! Now, let me ask you: if you rifle through the online discussions here on GR any night of the week, whadaya see? I'll tell you. You see traditionalists opposing modernists. You see Hegelian dialectics disturbingly at work, breaking structures down - and building New Ones up. You see people speaking their minds. You see Tolstoyan conflicts playing out and resolving themselves. In short, you see PERSONAL GROWTH. Get it? Tolstoy NEVER stopped growing! And neither should WE, folks. Want a gripping coming-of-Age autobiography about a great man finally facing off - and Coming Clean - with HIMSELF? And REFUSING to compromise, failing and being laughed at - but Always getting up again? Read THIS. It's beautiful. And it's so US.