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Rediscovering the Roots of Chinese Thought: Laozi's Philosophy (Contemporary Chinese Scholarship in Daoist Studies)
Paperback – January 31, 2015
by Guying Chen (Author), Paul D’Ambrosio (Translator)
3.4 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
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.
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.
150 pages
January 31, 2015
Editorial Reviews
Review
This book provides invaluable insight into the thought and scholarship of one of the most original and influential contemporary Chinese Daoist philosophers. Chen's reflections on the history of the Daode jing and the ideas expressed in this foundational classic are simply fascinating.
Paul D'Ambrosio's elegant translation is both faithful to the original and philosophically acute. The book is a precious resource for Western readers interested in Daoist thought and the cultural history of China which will massively to broaden their understanding of how the Daoist classic came about and what it means to contemporary Chinese thinkers. --Hans-Georg Moeller, University of Macau
This translation makes available for the first time to an English reading audience the groundbreaking work of one of contemporary China's leading voices in the study of early Daoism. Rediscovering the Roots of Chinese Thought pushes back hard against the current trend of scholarly opinion claiming that Laozi never lived and that he did not write the Daode jing.
Masterfully arguing that that these views are no longer tenable, Chen acknowledges Laozi as the first philosopher of the Chinese tradition and situates the Daode jing at the very origins of Chinese philosophy, a force that motivated and inspired all other Chinese schools of thought. The fundamentally changes the way we read the Daode jing. It challenges us reconsider the entire history of Chinese thought. The book is a must for anybody interested in Daoism and Chinese philosophy. It its impact will be felt for a long time to come. --Thomas Michael, Boston University
About the Author
CHEN Guying was born in Fujian province in 1935. He received his degree in philosophy from National Taiwan University, where he taught for most of his life. In the 1980s, he returned to live part time on the mainland, where he still teaches at Peking University, Center for Daoist Studies. The author of numerous works on Daoist thought, often in comparison with Western philosophy, Chen is among the most influential living scholars of Chinese thought. Still vibrantly active, he runs various conferences and academic projects, forever stimulating new ventures and contributing to the wider appreciation and deeper understanding of Daoist thinking.
Product details
Publisher : Three Pines Press; First edition (January 31, 2015)
Language : English
Paperback : 150 pages
Customer Reviews: 3.4 out of 5 stars 3 ratings
Customer reviews
3.4 out of 5 stars
Top reviews from the United States
T. Coonen
4.0 out of 5 stars Daoism sans Buddhism
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2015
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This is a good book. It is terribly edited, looks like they ran it through a spell check and printed it. You get “in” for “on,” “of” for “off,” etc. It’s usually easy to know what was meant, a couple times the meaning is lost. The info and arguments, however, are clearly presented and important. In the Usa, daoism is not so available as it appears, most translations are by Buddhists and have a Buddhist slant, often so much so whatever might have been “the original” cannot be determined under all the added, and much later, Buddhist interpretation. If you are a Buddhist, that’s fine, I guess. If you are not a Buddhist the complications can be misplaced or extraneous and the simplicity at the core of daoism can get buried (and usually does) under all the interpretive add-ons. Chen Guying's book avoids all that, and religion, and several not-quite-congruous complications by doing his best to precede them.
4 people found this helpful
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John C. Marshell Jr.
4.0 out of 5 stars Laozi Corrected
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2016
When I was an undergraduate, I wrote a paper on Daoism.
In the early 1980's, the Daoist listings in my alma mater's library largely consisted of a singular open ended shelf. I recall reading philosophical works by Creel, Kaltenmark, Feng Youlan, and a deep and profitable engagement with Paul Lin's translation of the "Tao Te Ching." Daoist alchemy and meditation was a subject shrouded in mystery and limited to reading Carl Jung's "Secrets of the Golden Flower" and Charles Luk's "Taoist Yoga." Daoism's founder, Laozi, equally mysterious, a person of dubious historicity, often relegated to the realm of myth, a composite figure created from a multi-authored text bearing his name. In the United States, Daoism was the poor cousin to the dominant Confucian and Buddhist traditions. Scholarship on the subject was rare and irregular, even Henri Maspero's "Taoism and Chinese Religion," published posthumously, did not appear in English until 1981.
Happily, all that has changed. There is now a plethora of books and articles on the subject, an increasing number of translations, and a growing number of Daoist temples in the United States. It is hard to keep up with all the material. This book, a translation of noted scholar Chen Guying's research on Laozi, is a part of that growth and should capture the attention of anyone interested in the subject of Daoism.
What Chen seeks to do in this book is remove the murky mystery around Laozi. He seeks to make Laozi a concrete historical figure, and in my opinion, does a very good job of presenting Laozi as not simply an historical reality but also the earliest philosopher in Chinese history. He makes his case rather well, detailing the mistakes Chinese philosophers made in treating the subject (Feng Youlan suffers mightily here) and bolstering his argument with an analysis of the Guodian Cave finds of 1993. There is a close analysis of the Daoist texts as well as an analysis of Daoist polemics with the Confucian tradition. And his investigation is not limited to the literary and philological, but includes an interesting historical and sociological consideration of cultural differences between the state of Chu (Laozi's home) and the state of Lu (Confucius' home). Laozi seems to come alive within the pages of the book. He is no longer a mythological sage inaccurately dated in the Warring States period battling with Confucius' successors, but a predecessor and colleague of Confucius in the Spring and Autumn period.
Chen's analysis creates a very different view of Laozi. The traditional depiction of a reclusive mystic with an antinomian disposition is replaced by an atheistic, dialectical moralist with a distaste for political corruption, who supports his philosophy with China's first cohesive theories of cosmology and ontology. His differences with Confucius are markedly reduced to epistemological concerns. In Chen's reading, Laozi's cultivation of the person occurs from the inside out, while Confucius works from the outside in. Both sages rebel against the problems of their time, but from different perspectives, looking to the Zhou Dynasty as a golden strife free age to support their positions: Laozi preferring metaphysical solutions, and Confucius structuring social networks built upon ethical relations. The polemics usually associated between the two men are the result of later misreadings and argumentative reworkings of texts, an historical development revealed through the Guodian finds. Chen sees the two sages as genuine and authentic men engaged in philosophical discourse and the depiction is enlightening.
I would encourage anyone with an interest in Chinese philosophy or religion to read this book. I docked my review one star due to the numerous printing and editing errors, but an alert reader can bridge the problems and enjoy this book.
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2 people found this helpful
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Casey S.
2.0 out of 5 stars Unfortunate Bias Ruins Scholarship
Reviewed in the United States on November 28, 2015
This book has a bit of stellar information and a handful of great insights, which is what [barely] raises the rating above 1-star. However, it approaches things from a very particular perspective that Laozi was a real person who was the singular author of an original Daodejing (Tao Te Ching). It also notably places the person and text as an immediate predecessor of Rujia (Confucianism) and Confucius as a pupil of Laozi (Lao Tzu). While this is a traditional position, this book is presented as a scholarly text. It is the equivalent of a conservative Catholic publishing a book about the historicity of Jesus and the continuity of his thought with later Western secular and orthodox religious institutions, exactly in line with the religious and ideological biases of conservative Catholicism, framed as an academic study.
This is a soapbox for a particular viewpoint. It is interesting to read for that reason and the fascinating information it cites. The book is a great tool for understanding the viewpoint that Laozi (Lao Tzu) was a real person who was the real author of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), but it is inherently flawed as a work of scholarship.
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