The present geopolitical rise of India and China evokes much interest in the comparative study of these two ancient Asian cultures. There are various studies comparing Western and Indian philosophies and religions, and there are similar works comparing Chinese and Western philosophy and religion. However, so far there is no systemic comparative study of Chinese and Indian philosophies and religions. Therefore there is a need to fill this gap. As such, Brahman and Dao: Comparative Studies of Indian and Chinese Philosophy and Religion is a pioneering volume in that it highlights possible bridges between these two great cultures and complex systems of thought, with seventeen chapters on various Indo-Chinese comparative topics. The book focuses on four themes: metaphysics and soteriology; ethics; body, health and spirituality; and language and culture.

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.

Rediscovering the Roots of Chinese Thought: Laozi's Philosophy is an English translation of one of the most influential Chinese texts on Daoism of the past century, written by Guying Chen, one of China's foremost scholars of Daoist thought and the author of annotated classical commentaries that serve as standard resources in many Chinese universities. This book offers a unique discussion of the Laozi, arguing-in contrast to standard Western scholarship-that the text goes back to a single author and identifying him as an older contemporary, and even teacher, of Confucius. This places the Confucian Analects after the Laozi and makes the text the most fundamental work of ancient Chinese thought. Chen explores these debates regarding these points, providing evidence based on materials excavated from Mawangdui and Guodian. His book is fascinating documentation of contemporary Chinese arguments and debates previously unavailable in English. It is nothing less than a complete revision of the history of Chinese thought with Daoism as its major focus.

Edition bilingue. "Reveiller les morts" est extrait du dernier recueil de nouvelles de Lu Xun "Histoires anciennes, revisitees." Cette edition bilingue s'adresse au lecteur de chinois de niveau intermediaire souhaitant progresser dans la lecture de textes litteraires relativement aises. Etre a (presque) soi tout seul le fondateur d'une philosophie et le precurseur d'une grande religion n'autorise pourtant pas toutes les fantaisies ni tous les caprices, et Tchuang Tseu apprend a ses depens que tous les ressuscites ne seront pas forcement reconnaissants... Sous la forme d'une petite piece de theatre en un acte court, critique anachronique des charlatans se revendiquant du taoisme et de la soumission au pouvoir, l'auteur s'attaque au mepris des gourous et des intellectuels pour le petit peuple. Lu Xun s'empare des mythes et legendes les plus anciens de la Chine traditionnelle pour denoncer avec une feroce ironie les nombreux travers de sa propre epoque et de ses contemporains... Les huit recits tires de "Histoires anciennes, revisitees" sont celebrissimes en Chine mais beaucoup moins connus en Occident que le reste de son oeuvre de fiction.

The Tao Te Ching is a Chinese classic text, which, according to tradition, was written around 6th century BC by the sage Laozi (or Lao Tzu, "Old Master"). The text's true authorship and date of composition or compilation are still debated, although the oldest excavated text dates back to the late 4th century BC. The text is fundamental to both philosophical and religious Taoism and strongly influenced other schools, such as Legalism, Confucianism and Chinese Buddhism, which when first introduced into China was largely interpreted through the use of Daoist words and concepts.

Synopsis A practical guide to a balanced way of being, this adaptation of the Tao te Ching explores the relationship between the spirit of thinking and doing by the simplicity of the Tao. Discover how the application of the Tao can integrate the mind and body into one complete, balanced essence of being.