Taoism: The Parting of the Way: Jr., Holmes H. Welch,: Amazon.com.au: Books

Taoism: The Parting of the Way: Jr., Holmes H. Welch,: Amazon.com.au: Books

Taoism: The Parting of the Way Paperback – 1 September 2018

by Jr., Holmes H. Welch, (Author)

4.9 out of 5 stars    18 ratings

—

$31.86 —

Called "a first-rate piece of work" by T. S. Eliot, this book offers a comprehensive discussion of Taoism, one of the world's major religions, as well as a study of the Tao te ching, the best known Taoist text, and Lao-tzu as a Taoist prototype.

Customer Reviews: 4.9 out of 5 stars    18 ratings

Product description

Review

Of very definite value and interest to specialists as well as laymen. in part, this virtue is owing to the enthusiasm, humor, lucitiy, and delightful informality he brings to his task, but it rests even more on a quite unusual capacity for analytical insight and informed understanding.--Derk Bodde, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies

Clarifies a large area of literature and history that has been a mystery to the West and makes fascinating reading even for those whose interest is casual.--The New Yorker

From the Back Cover

This book offers a comprehensive discussion of Taoism, one of the world's major religions, as well as a study of the Tao te ching, the best known Taoist text, Lao-Tzu as a Taoist prototype.

Customer reviews

4.9 out of 5 stars

Top reviews

Top reviews from Australia

There are 0 reviews and 0 ratings from Australia

Top reviews from other countries

Stuart

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 April 2019

Verified Purchase

Very interesting and hard to put down. Great companion to Arthur Waley's 'The Way and its Power'.

Report abuse

Paul

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars

Reviewed in Canada on 19 June 2016

Verified Purchase

Comprehensive and extensive

---

Ansel Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Not Arthur Waley, but great

Reviewed in the United States on 14 May 2013

Verified Purchase

Following Ursula LeGuin's suggestion, I bought this book when I wanted to dive deeper into Taoism than Wikipedia allows. Welch does an admirable job describing the different movements that claim the mantle, so as LeGuin says, it's an excellent introduction to Lao Tzu et al. and those who would be his followers. His history of the Taoist religions is thorough and carefully done, but his exploratory essays on philosophical Taoism are the reason this book is so good. Erudite and highly readable, they let me sink my teeth into the meat of Taoist thought within a few pages. Since Welch doesn't seem to have followed up on this book in any substantial way, I quickly found my way to Arthur Waley, whose unique perspective and towering scholarship rewards even an amateur and a dabbler like me, but even someone who's already read Waley's The Way and Its Power four times will find something original and thought-provoking in Welch's studies.

17 people found this helpful

--

Bsage

5.0 out of 5 stars enjoyed reading

Reviewed in the United States on 13 April 2013

Verified Purchase

Bought as a gift and my friend enjoyed reading it. Great Buy for slight used book

--

D V McL

5.0 out of 5 stars Get this along with your chosen 'translation"

Reviewed in the United States on 18 March 2013

Verified Purchase

This book was recommended to me by an Asian scholar and, although not new, is hands down the best explanation of the Tao te ching and its author I've come across - I would say a vital accompaniment to any "translation."

3 people found this helpful

Report abuse

===

Dec 06, 2020Conrad Zero rated it it was amazing

Shelves: philosophy, non-fiction

My love of Taoist philosophy lead me to add a BA in Eastern Philosophy onto my Computer Science degree (One I like, and one to pay the bills. I'll let you decide which is which.) While writing my senior research project, I discovered Welch's Taoism: The Parting of the Way. I just reread this book after a lifetime of reading writings, translations and interpretations of Eastern Philosophies. Welsh does an admirable job putting this extremely slippery, volatile and nebulous subject into context.

It's not a necessary text for those who want to experience Taoism. In fact, all the history and interplay with the other rulers, religions and rebellions might be distracting. Like reading about the life and upbringing of Jean-Claude Killy won't make you a better skier.

That said, it's a good resource for those who want to talk intelligently about Taoism to someone else. If you want to understand how Taoist philosophy relates to elements like alchemy, Buddhism, Confucianism, immortality, Yellow Turbans, magic mushrooms, Celestial Emperors, and even the Taoist Church, then this book is essential reading. Ditto if you are already versed in the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu and just want to explore the history and influences behind the philosophy.

Lao Tzu would likely not approve, but I do. I've never dog-eared so many pages in a book, underlined as many words or starred as many paragraphs as I have in this book. (less)

flag2 likes · Like  · comment · see review

Bob Nichols

Jun 08, 2012Bob Nichols rated it it was ok

In the first chapter, Welch discusses the problem of interpreting Lao Tsu and Tao Te Ching: whether the writing was a compilation of numerous writers over an extended period of time that reflected differing perspectives, or whether Lao Tzu even existed at all. This is the most interesting part of the book (the author also writes about the four primary schools of Taoism that subsequently emerged, three of which focused on how to achieve life after death, and how Taoism eventually merged with elements of Buddhism and Confucianism).

This uncertain history does not stop Welch from treating Tao Te Ching as a comprehensive and systematic philosophy of life. Humans are good. It is society that corrupts. Aggression begets aggression. Inaction is good for it lets our good natures emerge and flower. By inaction, Welch means, for example, not to push morality on others and not to stand out in rank and value. We need "an anonymity program," he writes, and we need to minimize our desires ("You need not," he simply states). While the Tao can give us lessons for modern life, Welch says it is a challenge for most of us who are "unable to reconcile ourselves to a quieter role on the earth."

The style of Tao Te Ching "is one of extraordinary compression," the author says and reading it is "an act of creation." One gets the sense that this is what he has done in putting forth some of his "inaction" perspective as it might apply to modern-day life. The key point in this regard is that he downplays the role of strength, thinking it leads only to aggression and counter aggression, and simplistically dismisses strength and its contribution to survival by saying it didn't work for the dinosaurs. Ergo, peace through strength doesn't really work. That's not real and it may not be an accurate reading of the Tao which also teaches balance. Balance means both not to impose and to resist being imposed upon. This point the author does not stress. (less)

--

Jeffrey Thomas

May 31, 2017Jeffrey Thomas rated it really liked it

Very interesting book; I don’t think I could have read it—I certainly couldn’t have read it as profitably—before I became a thoroughgoing atheist-by-way-of-skepticism. Really worthwhile because Welch: 1) makes it clear how extremely ambiguous the original is (its ambiguity being partly because of the Tao Te Ching’s origins and textual changes being lost in the unrecorded past; the other part because of its poetic or gnomic style), which means that interpretations can vary widely, being mostly ethical or speculatively philosophical; and 2) describes the origins and streams of the Taoist church in alchemical and other means of striving for physical immortality, in a polytheism that is either interior or exterior, in a great misinterpretation of the Tao Te Ching, and in a melding of principles that may be found in the TTC, in Buddhism, and in Confucianism, showing how the Taoist church has little or nothing to do with the TTC. If I’ve gotten that much right, I’m quite certain that I’ve left out much that I should have included. I think the most important bit of my little writeup here, is that the objectivity and critical distance afforded by my shift to atheism made it possible for me to read Welch’s book without a TTC interpretation of my own interfering. (less)

flag1 like · Like  · comment · see review

Jordan Youd

Jul 27, 2020Jordan Youd rated it really liked it

I read this book because Ursula K Le Guin suggests it as a good primer on philosophical and historical Taoism. I read it as a way to gain a deeper understanding of the Tao Ti Ching, and it provides just that. I won’t say that it was an enjoyable read, for the reason that it was quite dry and so technical that unless Taoism is a pre-existing interest of yours there is no reason to read this book. By pointing this out, I realize that I am suggesting that most readers shouldn’t read The Parting of the Way, but if Taoism is in your wheel house, then this book ought to be treated as essential reading. (less)

--

Jeff

Jan 07, 2012Jeff rated it liked it

Recommended to Jeff by: Ursula Le Guin

Shelves: non-fiction

Only 3 stars cuz i expected more exegesis of the Tao Te Ching. I know that i wanted more of it. I NEED more. Alas, at least half of this book is history, not philosophy, not metaphysics, not religion. So if you really want a Sinologist's history of Taoism, you're sure to enjoy this more than i did.

I picked it up because i knew i'd need help with the Tao and the edition i read was Ursula Le Guin's amalgamation in which she says, "If you want to know more about Taoism, or would like some help and guidance in reading the Tao Te Ching, the best, soundest, clearest introduction and guide is still Holmes Welch's...."

Some ideas and quotes:

"The two preceding sections, by keeping the field of vision rigidly confined to the ethical level of the Tao Te Ching, presented it falsely." [i agree with Welch that the Tao is more about philosophy than about politics or moral hygiene]

"We must not make fun of mystics for inconsistency. If they said no more about their vision than what they could put in precise, apposite terminology, we would learn nothing at all. We must be content with their symbols and similes." [the Tao contains almost no direct language and i think that's its strength]

From page 165 through to about 170, Welch attempts to provide Lao Tzu's answer to how to mend America's troubles or at least to tell us how America's troubles originated. Welch's Lao Tzu impersonation rings true for me and it's a pretty damned funny but depressing portrait of the American personality.

In conclusion, i find it hard not to admire Welch for how he thinks through the question of authorship of the Tao Te Ching, which is unfairly hidden away in Appendix I at the back of the book.

I leave you with a Taoist joke of sorts (or maybe it's a Zen koan):

Liu Ling was—according to Welch—the most celebrated drinker among the Seven Sages as well as "the person who liked to go about his house naked. Once he was interrupted by some stuffy Confucian visitors. They expressed surprise at the absence of trousers. Liu replied, 'The whole universe is my house and this room is my trousers. What are you doing here inside my trousers!'" (less)

--

Amber

Jul 19, 2010Amber rated it it was amazing

As a follower of the Tao, I was thrilled to see this book on the library shelf of my yoga studio. Having read various translations of the Tao te Ching, I appreciated Welch's interpretation of its main ideas: that wu-wei is inaction, that inaction is nonaggression, and so forth. That being said, this would also be an ideal book for someone who is first learning about the Tao.

In addition to exploring Taoist philosophy, the book includes the legend of the author Lao-Tzu (old man) and posits who he might actually have been. There is a lengthy history of the Taoist religion which I didn't read because Welch states from the very beginning that it had nothing to do with the philosophies in the actual Tao te Ching.

At the end Welch posits what Lao-Tzu might have said to the modern world (The book was written in the 50's.). This portion was interesting though some of it is dated (as can be expected). (less)

--

Virginia Simson

Jan 04, 2016Virginia Simson rated it it was amazing

Just a great great book to read and think about. I love his tone; he has an almost Taoist attitude towards his own academism!

Really, I wish I'd read this book years ago. It helps so much at putting all the different threads of thought into a workable timeline.

His admiration of Waley is a Good Thing, too.

(less)

--

Adrienne

Jan 17, 2008Adrienne rated it it was amazing

Shelves: religion, own

I love the beginning chapters, particularly the discussions of the Tao, Wu-Wei, and Mu. I have returned to this book repeatedly to reread and think about the nature of Tao, the Absolute Tao, and Wu-Wei.

====

July2015 “Better Right Than Mennonite”

July2015ErdelEgly.pdf

“Better Right Than Mennonite”: From “Egly Amish” to the Defenseless Mennonite Church to the Evangelical Mennonite Church to the Fellowship of Evangelical Churches1 TIMOTHY PAUL ERDEL*

 Abstract: 

The gradual evolution of the nineteenth-century “Egly Amish” into the twenty-first-century Fellowship of Evangelical Churches may be interpreted as a classic case of the Anabaptist-Mennonite declension thesis, with evangelical contacts and commitments serving as the catalysts for eclipsing any obvious Anabaptist identity. The Fellowship of Evangelical Churches, for example, no longer goes by an Anabaptist name, retains Mennonite affiliations, or maintains a consistent peace witness. Nevertheless, a closer look at the “Egly Amish” story may suggest a slightly more complicated history that is difficult to reduce to a single, pessimistic thesis about the baneful effects of evangelicalism. Nor is it obvious that sincere biblical discipleship favors only the paths mainline Mennonites follow as over against those taken by groups, congregations, or individuals who seem to have left mainline Anabaptist orbits.

백승종 [예수 평전 - 인간적인, 너무도 인간적인 예수의 삶>>(김근수, 동녘, 2021)

(4) Facebook

백승종

1 h  · 

<<예수 평전 - 인간적인, 너무도 인간적인 예수의 삶>>(김근수, 동녘, 2021)

1.

예수는 과연 누구일까. 그의 삶이 나와 무슨 관계가 있을까. 예수의 가르침대로 산다는 것은 도대체 가능한 일일까.

이런 질문을 한 번도 가슴에 품어보지 않은 사람도 아마 있기는 할 테지요. 그러나 대개는 그렇지 않을 것입니다.

“예수의 문제”를 생각하며 사는 많은 사람 가운데, 저도 끼어 있습니다. <성서>를 틈틈이 읽어보기도 하고, 관계되는 글도 찾아서 읽어보는 편입니다. 그러나 아직 만족할 만한 답을 발견하지는 못하고 있었습니다.

2.

새로 나온 김근수 선생의 <예수 평전>을 읽었어요. 제 눈에서 비늘이 떨어지는 것 같은 기분이 듭니다.

자신이 처한 시대의 고통을 외면하지 않았던 사람, 예수가 이 책에서 저를 기다리고 있었군요. 2천 년 전 예수 시대의 문제가 오늘날 우리의 현실과 맞닿아 있다는 점을 김 선생처럼 평이하고도 생생하게 서술한 이는 보지 못했어요. <예수 평전>에서 제가 만난 예수는, 그 무엇이기에 앞서 가난한 이웃의 친구였습니다.

<<예수 평전>>은 정의를 실천하는 예수의 모습을 감동적으로 묘사합니다. 하느님 나라가 이 땅에 오게 하려면, 악의 세력을 물리치는 것 못지않게 할 일이 있다는 점, 그런 사실을 분명하게 강조하고 있다고 하겠어요. 병든 사람들, 그리고 세상이 소외하기 마련인 여러 부류의 사람을 이해하고 힘껏 도와주라는 외침입니다. 그 무엇보다도 사랑을 몸소 실천하는 일이 곧 정의로운 세상을 만드는 길이다, 이러한 점을 뚜렷이 보여주는 책입니다.

3.

저자 김근수 선생은 성실한 학자입니다. 이 책을 쓰는 과정에서 그는 정말 많은 문헌을 읽고 분석하고 비판하였어요. 이 책의 주석을 자세히 살펴보면, 김 선생의 노고가 그대로 피부에 와 닿습니다. 독일어와 영어를 비롯하여 서양의 여러 언어로 발표된 논저가 보입니다. 각국의 신학자들이 얻은, 귀중한 학문적 결실을 이 책처럼 충실히 반영한 책이 과연 국내에 또 있을지 모르겠어요. 대단한 학자라고 생각합니다.

이 책에는 더욱 큰 매력이 있어요. 김 선생은 기존의 교리적인 틀에 안주하지 않아요. 그 대신에 오늘날 우리 한국의 문제를 풀기 위하여 무척 고심하고 있어요. 그 흔적이 역력합니다. 김 선생처럼 전문적인 공부를 많이 한 학자가 기성의 종교 또는 학문 권력에 가담하지 않고, 종교적 정의를 실천하려고 광야에 홀로 나서기란 참으로 어려운 일입니다. 김 선생은 지난 수십 년 동안 많은 저술과 실천 운동으로 우리를 일깨우고 있다고 생각합니다만, 앞으로도 많은 가르침을 베풀어 줄 것으로 기대합니다.

4.

이 책을 읽으면서 책도 책이지만, 정말 훌륭한 저자라는 생각이 거듭 들었습니다. 군데군데 연필로 줄 그어 표시한 구절이 많은데요, 그 일부를 아래에 적어보렵니다.

“예수를 만나는 데 돈이 들지 않았다.” (오늘날 우리는 교회에서 예수를 만나려면 적잖은 돈이 드는 것이 아닐까 합니다.)

“가난은 정치·경제 문제 이전에 신학 문제다.”(아마도 저자 김근수 선생의 공부는 이 한 줄에서 시작되고 마무리될 것으로 생각합니다.)

“예수에게 가장 많이 혼난 사람은 부자인데, 그리스도교에서 부자가 과연 가장 많이 혼나는가.”(교회가 타락하면 어떤 모습이 되는가를 이보다 더 간결하게 말하기는 불가능하겠지요.)

“나는 예수처럼 인간적인 사람을 알지 못한다. 인간성을 보면 예수는 신성을 갖춘 분이 틀림없다고 고백하고 싶다.”(김근수 선생이 말하는 “인간성”은 사실 신성이라는 점도 눈치 챌 수 있어요. 정의를 추구하는 인간의 행동은 가장 인간적이며 신적인 것으로 볼 수가 있다는 뜻이지요.)

“예수는 유다교 지배층의 종교적 이해와 로마 군대의 정치적 이해가 얽혀 처형됐다.”(상식적으로 이해할 수 있는 부분인데요. 아마 대개의 신학자와 목회자는 이런 현실을 외면하기 쉬울 것입니다. 그들은 현실의 바깥에서 종교를 찾기 때문이지요.)

“예수는 그리스도교와 유다교를 이어주는 끈이다.”(현대사회는 아직도 이런 문제를 풀지 못하고 있습니다. 지금도 반유대주의가 유럽에 팽배하지요. 또, 유대교 역시 기독교를 이해하려는 노력은 거의 없어 보입니다. 아니, 우리가 모두 차별과 배제의 낡은 관습에 젖어 있습니다.)

“예수는 민족 문제와 민중 문제에서 가장 큰 적폐 세력을 정확히 알았고, 타협하지 않고 저항했다.”(저자 김근수 선생의 해방신학적 관점을 한마디로 요약하면 아마 이렇게 될 것입니다.)

“하느님 나라를 전하는 자, 먼저 자기 십자가를 져라. 예수처럼 자기 십자가를 지고, 악의 세력에 용기 있게 저항하고 싸워라.”(이 책의 결론인 동시에 저자가 얻은 평생의 신조가 아마 이 말씀이 아닌가 합니다.)

7171

9 comments

5 shares

Like

Comment

Share

Comments

• 전득종

  

  

  1

  • Like

‘It's in our DNA’: tiny Costa Rica wants the world to take giant climate step | Costa Rica | The Guardian

‘It's in our DNA’: tiny Costa Rica wants the world to take giant climate step | Costa Rica | The Guardian


The road to KunmingCosta Rica


Interview
‘It's in our DNA’: tiny Costa Rica wants the world to take giant climate step
Patrick Greenfield


President says the time is finally right for international agreement to tackle biodiversity loss and global heating

Costa Rica’s president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada: ‘Our approach is to lead by example.’ Photograph: Marco Valle/Bloomberg /Getty Images

The age of extinction is supported by
About this content

@pgreenfielduk
Mon 22 Feb 2021 22.30 AEDT







958




When it comes to the environment, few countries rival Costa Rica in terms of action and ambition.

The tiny Central American nation is aiming for total decarbonisation by 2050, not just a “net zero” target. It has regrown large areas of tropical rainforest after suffering some of the highest rates of deforestation in the world in the 1970s and 1980s. Costa Ricans play a major role in international environmental politics, most notably Christiana Figueres, who helped to corral world leaders into agreeing the Paris accord.



Now Costa Rica has turned its attention to securing an ambitious international agreement on halting biodiversity loss. In January, more than 50 countries committed to the protection of 30% of the planet’s land and oceans as part of the High Ambition Coalition (HAC) for Nature and People, spearheaded by Costa Rica, which is a co-chair alongside France and the UK.

The coalition hopes the target will become the headline aim for an international agreement on halting biodiversity loss for this decade, set to be negotiated in Kunming, China, later this year.
As Mandela said, 'It always seems impossible until it’s done'Carlos Alvarado Quesada

“Our approach is to lead by example. As Mandela said, ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done’,” the Costa Rican president, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, told the Guardian. “Conservation is one of the key factors that scientists point out as relevant for protecting biodiversity and also for addressing the climate crisis. But working alone, it’s not as effective.”

The world has never met a single target to stem the destruction of wildlife and life-sustaining ecosystems. But the 41-year-old leader believes this time might be different.
Q&A
What is the road to Kunming series?Show


'Sweet City': the Costa Rica suburb that gave citizenship to bees, plants and trees

Read more

Alvarado swept to power in April 2018, defeating a conservative evangelical pastor who had campaigned against same-sex marriage. It was a rare victory for a centre-left candidate in a time of rising global rightwing populism and led Nobel economist Joseph Stiglitz to conclude that Costa Rica was a beacon of enlightenment for its commitment to reason, rational discourse, science and freedom.
Advertisement


But the pandemic and resulting blow to Costa Rica’s ecotourism industry forced Alvarado to enter painful negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, raising fears of large cuts in a country that puts human development at its core, alongside environmentalism.

Costa Rica, now an OECD member, has no standing army, invests heavily in education and boasts a universal healthcare system. The prospect of internationally enforced austerity caused rioting in October last year, and Alvarado pulled out of talks. In January, the IMF and the Costa Rican government agreed a $1.75bn (£1.25bn) package that avoided some of the more controversial proposals.
Environmental policies are ‘the dominant DNA’ of Costa Rica, says Alvarado. Photograph: Jeffrey Arguedas/EPA

Despite the difficult choices, the president said he was encouraged that global action on the environment will result from the pandemic, especially after the election of Joe Biden as US president, with whom he spoke recently.

“It was a very close conversation. We have lots of things in common. We talked about working together in addressing the climate crisis,” Alvarado said. “I think the message of appointing Senator [John] Kerry as ambassador in this area is very strong. It’s going to be a key priority.”
More and more, the real impacts of the climate crisis on our societies is evidentCarlos Alvarado Quesada

Alvarado did not speak to Donald Trump during the latter’s presidency. But the Costa Rican president said the climate crisis and the breakdown of nature were already causing significant problems in the region, including the migrant caravans heading to the US border that often dominate the concerns of US Republicans.
Advertisement


“More and more, the real impacts of the climate crisis on our societies is evident. Just in this past year, Central America was hit by two consecutive hurricanes: Hurricane Iota and Hurricane Eta. Particularly in Nicaragua and Honduras, not only in terms of deaths but also in terms of production and the potential in terms of unemployment, the migrations that it could produce mean you cannot only see the storms in isolation as hurricanes,” he said.

“Scientists say that hurricanes in the region have become more frequent and stronger. This is going to have effects in our societies in terms of economic growth, of jobs, of inequality, of inequality in terms of women, on migration.”
Devastation caused by Hurricane Iota in Haulover, Nicaragua, in November 2020. Photograph: Inti Ocón/AFP/Getty Images

Alongside larger partners, Costa Rica will continue to encourage other governments to take bold action on biodiversity at Kunming through the HAC for Nature and People. But the road ahead is not easy. The negotiations cover conservation and the sustainable use of nature – a topic that will involve difficult choices about agriculture, chemical use and resource extraction by far more influential powers.
Advertisement


Alvarado acknowledges these challenges but says that although such issues also exist in Costa Rica, he will continue to focus on being an example.

“Environmental policies do not necessarily have unanimous consensus. For the past decades, they have been the dominant DNA of Costa Rica but there are also some people saying that perhaps we should be exploiting more. But still, I believe that’s very far away from our DNA.”

Find more Age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features

• This article was amended on 25 February 2021 to correct the surname of President Alvarado.