The "I Ching," or Book of Changes, a common source for both Confucianist and Taoist philosophy, is one of the first efforts of the human mind to place itself within the universe. It has exerted a living influence in China for 3,000 years, and interest in it has been rapidly spreading in the West.

Taking into account the long history and wide range of Confucian Studies, this book introduces Confucianism - initiated in China by Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) - primarily as a philosophical and religious tradition. It pays attention to Confucianism in both the West and the East, focussing on the tradition’s doctrines, schools, rituals, sacred places and terminology, but also stressing the adaptations, transformations and new thinking taking place in modern times. Xinzhong Yao presents Confucianism as a tradition with many dimensions and as an ancient tradition with contemporary appeal. This gives the reader a richer and clearer view of how Confucianism functioned in the past and of what it means in the present. A Chinese scholar based in the West, he draws together the many strands of Confucianism in a style accessible to students, teachers, and general readers interested in one of the world’s major religious traditions.

Leading scholars examine religious and philosophical dimensions of the Chinese classic known as the Daodejing or Laozi.

This is the first complete, one-volume English translation of the ancient Chinese text Xunzi, one of the most extensive, sophisticated, and elegant works in the tradition of Confucian thought. Through essays, poetry, dialogues, and anecdotes, the Xunzi presents a more systematic vision of the Confucian ideal than the fragmented sayings of Confucius and Mencius, articulating a Confucian perspective on ethics, politics, warfare, language, psychology, human nature, ritual, and music, among other topics. Aimed at general readers and students of Chinese thought, Eric Hutton's translation makes the full text of this important work more accessible in English than ever before. Named for its purported author, the Xunzi (literally, "Master Xun") has long been neglected compared to works such as the Analects of Confucius and the Mencius. Yet interest in the Xunzi has grown in recent decades, and the text presents a much more systematic vision of the Confucian ideal than the fragmented sayings of Confucius and Mencius. In one famous, explicit contrast to them, the Xunzi argues that human nature is bad. However, it also allows that people can become good through rituals and institutions established by earlier sages. Indeed, the main purpose of the Xunzi is to urge people to become as good as possible, both for their own sakes and for the sake of peace and order in the world. In this edition, key terms are consistently translated to aid understanding and line numbers are provided for easy reference. Other features include a concise introduction, a timeline of early Chinese history, a list of important names and terms, cross-references, brief explanatory notes, a bibliography, and an index.

Tranquil Sitting is the Taoist Master Yin Shi Zi's practical guide and inspirational testament to the healing power and spiritual benefits of meditation and Chinese medical Qigong. The book explores the theory and physiological aspects of meditation and offers practical instruction in traditional meditation techniques. It also documents Yin Shi Zi's personal experiences with meditation, his own self-healing which he attributes to his Taoist practice, and his initiation into the Tibetan tantric practice of opening the crown of the head. Thus giving the reader an idea of the long-term process of meditation practice and the deep healing that can result from it. Faithfully translated from the Chinese, this is an influential text that belongs on the bookshelves of everyone with an interest in Taoist practice and meditation.

This book guides the reader to the emerging Ecozoic Era when humans will be present upon the Earth in a mutually enhancing manner. Indeed, this book calls for an Ecozoic spirituality that is timely and much needed. It also illustrates an important direction for theology and spirituality and for deep ecumenism that is yet to be fully realized and opens more doors for such dialogue. By giving special attention to the integral relationship among God, the cosmos, and humanity, the works of Thomas Berry (1914-2009, USA) and Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073, China) provide insights that speak to the current ecological crisis, a cosmological context for developing an Ecozoic spirituality, while helping to advance clear values and ethical parameters that lead to a more authentic human presence on Earth.

This book provides evidence that the emergence of Asian new religious movements (NRMs) was predominantly the result of anti-colonial ideology from local religious groups or individuals. The contributors argue that when traditional religions were powerless to maintain their cultural heritage, the leadership of NRMs adduced alternative principles, and the new teachings of each NRM attracted the local people enough for them to change their beliefs. The contributors argue that, as a whole, the Asian new religious movements overall were very ardent and progressive in transmitting their new ideologies. The varied viewpoints in this volume attest to the consistent development of Asian NRMs from domestic and international dimensions by replacing old, traditional religions.

This book draws attention to a striking aspect of contemporary Japanese culture: the prevalence of discussions and representations of "spirits" (tama or tamashii). Ancestor cults have played a central role in Japanese culture and religion for many centuries; in recent decades, however, other phenomena have expanded and diversified the realm of Japanese animism. For example, many manga, anime, TV shows, literature, and art works deal with spirits, ghosts, or with an invisible dimension of reality. International contributors ask to what extent these are cultural forms created by the media for consumption, rather than manifestations of "traditional" ancestral spirituality in their adaptations to contemporary society. Spirits and Animism in Contemporary Japan considers the modes of representations and the possible cultural meanings of spirits, as well as the metaphysical implications of contemporary Japanese ideas about spirits. The chapters offer analyses of specific cases of "animistic attitudes" in which the presence of spirits and spiritual forces is alleged, and attempt to trace cultural genealogies of those attitudes. In particular, they present various modes of representation of spirits (in contemporary art, architecture, visual culture, cinema, literature, diffuse spirituality) while at the same time addressing their underlying intellectual and religious assumptions.

The Letters of Chan Master Dahui Pujue offers a complete annotated translation, the first into English, of a Chan Buddhist classic, the collected letters of the Southern Song Linji Chan teacher Dahui Zonggao (1089-1163). Addressed to forty scholar-officials, members of the elite class in Chinese society, and to two Chan masters, these letters are dharma talks on how to engage in Buddhist cultivation. Each of the letters to laymen is fascinating as a document directed to a specific scholar-official with his distinctive niche, high or low, in the Song-dynasty social-political landscape, and his idiosyncratic stage of development on the Buddhist path. Dahui is engaging, incisive, and often quite humorous in presenting his teaching of "constantly lifting to awareness the phrase (huatou)," his favored phrases being No (wu) and dried turd. Throughout one's busy twenty-four hours, the practitioner is not to perform any mental operation whatsoever on this phrase, and to "take awakening as the standard." This epistolary compilation has long constituted a self-contained course of study for Chan practitioners. For centuries, Letters of Dahui has been revered throughout East Asia. It has exerted a formative influence on Linji Chan practice in China, molded Son practice in Korea, and played a key role in Hakuin (Rinzai) Zen in Japan. Jeffrey Broughton's translation, has made extensive use of Mujaku Dochu's (1653-1744) insightful commentary on Letters of Dahui, Pearl in the Wicker-Basket.

The main theme of this book is how newly excavated texts have provided new energy and perspectives to allow us to renew our understanding of ancient Chinese thought, especially that of Confucianism. Through an analysis of texts from the Guodian, Shanghai Museum, and other collections of excavated manuscripts, this book undertakes a wide-ranging analysis of Confucian thought in itself and also its influence on other trends of thought in ancient China. It focuses on such topics as morality, virtue, and self-cultivation, political philosophy, circumstance, and the relationship between human beings, others, and the natural world. It rethinks core Confucian concepts such as ren or "benevolence" and shendu or "maintaining one's moral nature" as well as great Confucian notions on circumstance and political philosophy. This book also illustrates the influence that Confucian philosophy had during the Warring States period showing that elements of its moral philosophy informed the consciousness and behavior of state officials in such places as the state of Qin. Excavated texts are an inescapable part of Chinese philosophy, as such this book is invaluable to anyone wishing to understand ancient Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, and anyone interested in the interplay between material and intellectual culture.

Questions of secularity and modernity have become globalized, but most studies still focus on the West. This volume breaks new ground by comparatively exploring developments in five areas of the world, some of which were hitherto situated at the margins of international scholarly discussions: Africa, the Arab World, East Asia, South Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. In theoretical terms, the book examines three key dimensions of modern secularity: historical pathways, cultural meanings, and global entanglements of secular formations. The contributions show how differences in these dimensions are linked to specific histories of religious and ethnic diversity, processes of state-formation and nation-building. They also reveal how secularities are critically shaped through civilizational encounters, processes of globalization, colonial conquest, and missionary movements, and how entanglements between different territorially grounded notions of secularity or between local cultures and transnational secular arenas unfold over time.

Much as the modern Western world is concerned with diets, health, and anti-aging remedies, many early medieval Chinese Daoists also actively sought to improve their health and increase their longevity through specialized ascetic dietary practices. Focusing on a fifth-century manual of herbal-based, immortality-oriented recipes-the Lingbao Wufuxu (The Preface to the Five Lingbao Talismans of Numinous Treasure)-Shawn Arthur investigates the diets, their ingredients, and their expected range of natural and supernatural benefits. Analyzing the ways that early Daoists systematically synthesized religion, Chinese medicine, and cosmological correlative logic, this study offers new understandings of important Daoist ideas regarding the body's composition and mutability, health and disease, grain avoidance (bigu) diets, the parasitic Three Worms, interacting with the spirit realm, and immortality. This work also employs a range of cross-disciplinary scientific and medical research to analyze the healing properties of Daoist self-cultivation diets and to consider some natural explanations for better understanding Daoist asceticism and its underlying world view.

The Vulnerability of Integrity in Early Confucian Thought is about the necessity, and even value, of vulnerability in human experience. In this book, Michael Ing brings early Chinese texts into dialogue with questions about the ways in which meaningful things are vulnerable to powers beyond our control; and more specifically, how relationships with meaningful others might compel tragic actions. Vulnerability is often understood as an undesirable state; and as such, invulnerability is preferred over vulnerability. While recognizing the need for adopting strategies of reducing vulnerability in various situations, The Vulnerability of Integrity demonstrates that vulnerability is far more enduring in human experience, and that it enables values such as morality, trust, and maturity. Vulnerability also highlights the need for care (care for oneself and for others). The possibility of tragic loss stresses the difficulty of offering and receiving care; and thereby fosters compassion for others as we strive to care for each other. This book is structured to explore the plurality of Confucian thought as it relates to the vulnerability of integrity. The first two chapters describe traditional and contemporary views that argue for the invulnerability of integrity in early Confucian thought. The remaining five chapters investigate alternative views. In particular these later chapters give attention to neglected voices in the tradition, which argue that our concern for others can, and even should, lead to us compromise our integrity. In these cases we are compelled to do something transgressive for the sake of others; and in these situations our integrity is jeopardized in the transgressive act.

Functioning as both a dense manual, a detailed roadmap, and an edifying tale of spiritual maturity, this third installment in Wang Yun's best-selling series brings you rare and authentic Daoism, straight from the culture that gave birth to it. With clear instruction and dozens of illustrated and filmed exercises, you can begin or strengthen your spiritual practice, boost your immune system, and find deep peace of mind, all right from the comfort of your home. Lofty Daoist philosophy and its practical applications are made easy to grasp and apply through Wang Yun's effort to translate the old teachings on how to apply the mindset and skills of Daoist meditation, alchemy and qigong to all affairs of life. To this end, Returning from Qingcheng Mountain spins a blend of rare tales from Daoist lore, straightforward explanations of ways to shape the body and mind, and inspiring stories from Wang Yun's own practice path. To 'remain natural in all things' is the tenet that pervades every page, an eternal invitation toward being at ease, no matter the circumstances. By doing so, one returns to the world out there and handles mundane matters with poise and efficiency, transforming all the challenges and joys and relationships of daily life into a practice, a meditation, and a chance to grow and develop one's spirit, and by token, the body.

After a century during which Confucianism was viewed by academics as a relic of the imperial past or, at best, a philosophical resource, its striking comeback in Chinese society today raises a number of questions about the role that this ancient tradition-re-appropriated, reinvented, and sometimes instrumentalized-might play in a contemporary context. The Sage and the People, originally published in French, is the first comprehensive enquiry into the "Confucian revival" that began in China during the 2000s. It explores its various dimensions in fields as diverse as education, self-cultivation, religion, ritual, and politics. Resulting from a research project that the two authors launched together in 2004, the book is based on the extensive anthropological fieldwork they carried out in various parts of China over the next eight years. Sebastien Billioud and Joel Thoraval suspected, despite the prevailing academic consensus, that fragments of the Confucian tradition would sooner or later be re-appropriated within Chinese society and they decided to their hypothesis. The reality greatly exceeded their initial expectations, as the later years of their project saw the rapid development of what is now called the "Confucian revival" or "Confucian renaissance". Using a cross-disciplinary approach that links the fields of sociology, anthropology, and history, this book unveils the complexity of the "Confucian Revival" and the relations between the different actors involved, in addition to shedding light on likely future developments.

The Tibetan district of Tsari with its sacred snow-covered peak of Pure Crystal Mountain has long been a place of symbolic and ritual significance for Tibetan peoples. In this book, Toni Huber provides the first thorough study of a major Tibetan Buddhist pilgrimage center and cult mountain, and explores the esoteric and popular traditions of ritual there. The main focus is on the period of the 1940s and '50s, just prior to the 1959 Lhasa uprising and subsequent Tibetan diaspora into South Asia. Huber's work thus documents Tibetan life patterns and cultural traditions which have largely disappeared with the advent of Chinese colonial modernity in Tibet. In addition to the work's documentary content, Huber offers discussion and analysis of the construction and meaning of Tibetan cultural categories of space, place, and person, and the practice of ritual and organization of traditional society in relation to them.

This volume of new essays is the first English-language anthology devoted to Chinese metaphysics. The essays explore the key themes of Chinese philosophy, from pre-Qin to modern times, starting with important concepts such as yin-yang and qi and taking the reader through the major periods in Chinese thought - from the Classical period, through Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism, into the twentieth-century philosophy of Xiong Shili. They explore the major traditions within Chinese philosophy, including Daoism and Mohism, and a broad range of metaphysical topics, including monism, theories of individuation, and the relationship between reality and falsehood. The volume will be a valuable resource for upper-level students and scholars of metaphysics, Chinese philosophy, or comparative philosophy, and with its rich insights into the ethical, social and political dimensions of Chinese society, it will also interest students of Asian studies and Chinese intellectual history.

The perfect companion to Stephen Mitchell's version of the Tao Te Ching, this is the astonishing rendering of Lao Tzu's further writings. Each of the eighty-one teachings presented by Taoist scholar and poet Brian Walker are rich with wisdom, mystery, and startling enlightenment.