Reviews for Hayagriva: The Mantrayanic Aspect of Horse-Cult in China and Japan

The average rating for Hayagriva: The Mantrayanic Aspect of Horse-Cult in China and Japan based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-07-25 00:00:00 Frederico Lara A well researched, scholarly work. This is part of a trilogy by Mr. Wagner. I've read one other so far, A Chinese Reading of the Daodejing; and he tries very hard to represent the Tao Te Ching through the eyes and commentary of Wang Bi. Mr. Wagner does an excellent job, but his scholarship is for the scholar. The reader has to be more than of average interest in the subject. Most won't be enthralled by his theories of IPS (interlocking parallel styles) and such, but I was interested to read through these formulations. Although the entire book is about Wang Bi's scholarly exploration of Xuanxue, I was surprised to see only about four pages specifically dedicated to Xuan (the Dark or the Abstruse). The 19 pages dedicated to Dao were worth the book for me as an interpreter however. Mr. Wagner is not trying to put his own interpretation together as he is trying to represent Wang Bi's. I think he does his honest best. Wang Bi tried very hard to found the often loose language into more concrete, foundational philosophy. Whether the philosophy was so much based upon government or whether such examples are merely examples, is debatable. As with all of us, perhaps Wang Bi's own view was more interested in government, and so shifted the entire tenor of the text. But everybody who interprets must begin with how one views before this translates into what one views. Kudos to Mr. Wagner for his hard work. Everybody who reads the Lao Tzu, Dao Te Ching owes a debt to both Wang Bi, and Rudolf Wagner has worked hard to represent it.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-03 00:00:00 Ed Babin III Really smart. Contextualizes and consolidates WB's insights on the DDJ...