Customer Reviews

Chronicles of Tao: The Secret Life of a Taoist Master

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4 star:		(5)
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2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I read Deng Ming Dao's "Chronicles of Tao" many years ago under it's original form of 3 different books. Because of the way my life was at that time, I found it to be a wonderful adventure story. Deng Ming Dao is a master story teller and Kwan Saihung is a facinating subject. Later, after a major spiritual awakening, I reread it and found something deeper: the story of a man's spiritual journey through the practice of Taoism. Later still, I discovered Tai Chi and Qigong and upon another reading of "Chronicles of Tao", I found a lot of information about Taoist Qigong and health practices that I had missed in previous readings. Then one day I saw an ad in "QI" Magazine that Master Kwan Saihung was giving a seminar on Taoist Health Practices in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was literally on a plane bound for St. Paul 2 weeks later to meet this "Wandering Taoist". That first seminar was the first of many lessons with Master Kwan who is alive and well and still teaching in New England. He is the Master teacher I was searching for for many years and Deng Ming Tao's excellent book, "Chronicles of Tao" led me to my Master. Which brings to mind an old Chinese saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Marilynn Seits cmr@cmrrecords.com

This one volume collection contains all three novels of the Taoist master Kwan Saihung:

1) _The Wandering Taoist_

I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly this text flows, but then perhaps I should have expected this from a work so full of the true essence of the Tao. Primarily, this is the story of the education of a Taoist adept and renunciate from willful child to a master who is fully in harmony with heaven and earth. Secondarily, it is a glimpse into the intact monastic community of the Haushan mountains- before its dissolution in the post-Imperial chaos of the 20th century.

There is more than a little Taoist wisdom interwoven into the story. Indeed, it is a fine teaching aid. You get a sense of the careful guiding and molding of young Kwan Saihung by the Grand Master. Basic Taoist ethics, meditation, internal alchemy, healing, martial arts, divination, astral travel- are all touched upon. You get a sense of both the mundane and tedious groundwork of monastic life, as well as, the ego-shattering elements of crisis and initiation.

The advice concerning the purging of one's ming huan (karma) is especially refreshing in today's world. You came into this world with problems and dilemmas to be met and mastered. You are to burn away all your attachments and worldly goals, purge desire, and satisfy the thirst for knowledge (the exact opposite of the teachings of modern materialism.) You never refuse experience, and you overcome all obstacles that such experience presents. In this way you can leave this word fulfilled and pass to a higher plane.

Saihung's anger at the Japanese invasion of the 30's- and his decision to leave the order and fight as a "wandering Taoist"- is more than a little appropriate in today's world. After years of soul-numbing combat he returned to the monastery. He had come to realize the ultimate corruption of the outer world and the meaninglessness of war. He came to realize that humanity had to work out their own destiny- including war- and that no Taoist (or even the Jade Emperor) could do it for them.

2) _Seven Bamboo Tablets of the Cloudy Satchel_

While reading this second book in the author's _Chronicles of the Tao Trilogy_ it repeatedly occurred to me that it lacked the depth and meaning of the first volume. It seemed to have degenerated to a martial arts morality play. However, having finished reading the last section, I now see that I was wrong. This is even more powerful than the first book, for it is a tale of slipping from the Path of the Tao having once touched upon it. It is a story of striving, falling, and re-ascending.

The book starts with some excellent discussions on the nature of Taoism and the Tao. But after that it quickly switches to a description of martial arts training and how it intersects with the spiritual lives of the monks of Huanchan. Indeed, the pride of some of the monks, even the Grand Master, at meeting and defeating any and all challengers seemed very... questionable. Then Saihung was given a quest by the Grand Master- to track down and bring back a former student of the monastery who has gone into the world to become a thief, a slaver, and a murderer. And so he sets out on his knightly quest among the last remnants of the old martial order in a corrupt and decaying society. He travels through both the criminal and martial underworlds to find his quarry. It is along the way that he finds that not even a knight who is pure of heart can use force and killing without paying a heavy inner price.

It is after the completion of this quest that Saihung once again leaves the monastery- and finds himself drawn into the same criminal underworld as his former prey. He finds himself drawn by the dark Tao into a life of force, pride, and sensation. He sinks so low as to become an actor in traditional Chinese opera because he is addicted to applause and adoration. It is there that he encounters two legendary wandering Taoist Immortals and realizes the error of his ways. It is in the last section of the book that the most profound lessons come. He sees the proper place of lesser teachings and lesser realities in following the Path. He learns to look beyond mere technical knowledge, intellectualism, and the letter of sacred literature- and to not confuse them with the goal. It is here that he reconnects with the Tao.

Once again, after reading this book I have absolutely no doubts that the author has studied with a true Master.

3) _Gateway to a Vast World_

This final volume of the _Chronicles of the Tao Trilogy_ sees the end of ancient traditions rooted in the Tao- and the planting of old seeds in a new land.

Saihung has returned to the great mountain monastery of Haushan. After participating briefly in the new Communist government, he has found that he has no use for the game playing, ruthlessness, and mercilessness of politics. Once again, he has grown world-weary and returned to the life of the renunciate. Only this time the Grand Master refuses to let him stay. With a sense of impending urgency, he tells his youngest student to wander the world in search of experience- and his own destiny.

This is how Saihung came to find himself in the America of the 1950's. He had chosen that place because of what he had read in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Pledge of Allegiance. It hit his idealism hard when he found that these ideals didn't apply to people of other races, the poor, the outsiders. Yet, he still stayed on in this strange new land. He found that working in a restaurant wasn't all that different from the daily life in a monastery- if one kept one's interior life centered and focused. He found that this was not always easy in a land so full of violence, hate, and greed. Then, one day the call came from the Grand Master to return to Huashan. When he arrived, he found the monasteries in ruins, the monks scattered, the practice of Taoism outlawed....

This is the story of one man's experience on the Way. It is a story of touching on the Source only to have it torn away by the constantly changing currents of the world. Yet, inspite of all the trials, the darkness, and the change, the Way and its lessons remain for the serious seeker to rediscover. One has only to persevere to the edge of oblivion itself....

Taoism is one of those subjects that seems to become more difficult to grasp the more you study it. While there are many good academic, philosophical, and religious books on the subject, there is no substitute for actually applying Taoism to your own life. But if there was a book that came close to being such a substitute, it would be something like /Chronicles of Tao/.

This beautifully written book follows the life of Kwan Saihung, from his childhood beginnings with his rich and powerful family, to his dabbling and eventual immersion in Taoism. Deng Ming-Dao weaves the story in an expert fashion, and everything flows rather smoothly. This book is like a river, zigging and zagging through the events of Saihung's life. Every now and then, while following Saihung and his exploration of what it means to be a Taoist, the reader catches brief glimpses of the backdrop of events in China, such as the invasion by Japan. These tidbits provide good cultural background and are seamlessly woven into the story.

There are, of course, elements of the mystical and magical in this book. These add flavor to the story, and remind us that here is more to Taoism than sitting around and pondering riddles and the Yin-Yang symbol. Even if you don't believe that the Grand Master could truly light sticks of incense across the room simply with a hand gesture, you will be too busy enjoying the rest of /Chronicles/ to even care.

The long and short of it is that this is one of the best Taoism-related books I've ever read. And even if you're not all that interested in Eastern thought, there is much to enjoy here - after all, the story is a delight to read regardless of your philosophical or religious views. Short of hopping the next plane to China and secluding yourself in a cave or temple, this is a great way to get a taste for living, breathing Taoism.

An exceptional book which I have read twice and would very much like to read again. The book outlines the biographical history of Mr. Kwan. Selected at an early age, somewhat reluctantly, to begin study with a Taoist Grandmaster, we follow the developement of the young boy from a warrior clan family. His rejection of past to become a renunciate studying The Way. Difficulty, uncertainty and self-doubt must be overcome. The way cannot be learned but must be experienced. Mr. Kwan's experiences take him from esoteric battles of mind and spirit, to combat martial arts, war and death. All are part of The Way. We follow the magical, and often sad, life of old China, to its death at the hands of commercialism. The death of traditional Taoism but not of Tao. Mr. Kwan is taught that in order to reach the highest levels of enlightenment and to escape the eternal wheel of death and reincarnation one must fulfill one's destiny. First, however, one must find out what one's destiny is. Mr. Kwan has to seek his destiny not on Mt. Haushan, not in China, but in the West, dealing with all of the upheaval, confusion and prejudice inorder to achieve the ultimate human goal. This book is well written and prompts the reader to undergo a serious amount of self-assessment.

A very powerful book. This book has affected me in my life. It has shown me that there are now ordinary moments in life. Life is not what it appears to be. "Reality" is what you make of it. I would recommend this book to any one that enjoys metaphysics or Eastern Philosophy.

I have been training Martial Arts with Mr. Kwan for over 3 1/2 years. This makes the book very special to me. It gives me a general idea about Mr. Kwan's journey from a China that no longer exists to our modern society. In the book Mr. Deng claims that Mr. Kwan's master is over 100 years old. When reading this I'm sure many people think this is an exaggeration. However, Mr. Kwan is 78. He looks like he is in his 40's and moves like he is in his 30's.

To start off, I loved the way the book was written. It gave lush details and seemed to pull me into the story within only a few pages. The characters in the book were both deep and inspiring, and thus carried me with big smiles all the way through to one point that I feel I must address.
Although I have very much to learn of chinese history and culture, there is one person of which I know a bit about. His name is Wang Ziping, and was supposedly one of Saihung's teachers. Well, I studied Wushu under Madam Wong Jurong, his daughter. Many times during and after class, she would sit with us and tell us the many stories of Tai laoshi (chinese meaning of your teacher's teacher) and how he was called the King of Gungfu. He was an exceptionally strong man but also a very gentle one, and this is one trait that he passed on to his daughter.
In the book, he was depicted as a brawler with a firey temper and seemingly violent tendencies. According to my first hand experiences and relationship with his daughter, this just could not be true. Even the man's picture on the wall had a peaceful aura about it. I even asked her about it and let her read some of it and she said the same thing as I am; good book, well written, but untrue about Wang Ziping and his exploits. She had also mentioned that some of the other people mentioned in the book were depicted unfaithfully as well, but since I dont know as much of them, I will not speak of what I dont know.

Bottom line, I found the book inspiring and very intertaining. I am sure some of the historical events were true. Saihung and his teachers were indeed very interesting and Deng Ming Dao does an excellent job in bringing the story to life. It is with this in mind why I give it four stars instead of five. Great read nonetheless.

There is controversy about this trilogy, primarily concerning master Kwan Sai Hung. Is he real? Did the events depicted in this work actually happen, or were they fictionalized? Is the man who is currently teaching in the eastern US truly the same person depicted in this series? Does it even matter?

Regardless of the unanswered questions, whether the book is fact or fiction, the book is a treasure. It is one of the greatest Chinese historical (martial arts) epics ever published (in either english or Chinese), and also one of the most revelatory works about Taoism and Taoist thought and practice in print. It is moving in an indescribable way, directly addressing spiritual struggle, and questions of identity and purpose.

This is an incredible book. I thought it would be like a companion piece to Scholar Warrior, but oh how wrong I was. This amazing journey through the end of romantic China and into the bleak present had me laughing out loud and on the verge of tears within the same chapter. In its pages I learned more about Taoist practice than from any other single source. The narrative contains gigantic chunks of easily digestable wisdom, but remains lucid and readable. I devoured this book in two days and at the end I was yearning for more. Buy it, read it, and dream of wonders.

It may be that this book arrived in my life at the right time, or something, but I can say that it touched me so deeply at so many levels that it really transformed my life and my perception of so many things. Not only is it very well written (it's hard to put it down), it also moves the reader from the external to the internal, from darkness to light, from the Huashan monastery to the world, and so on, in a continous play of yin and yang, while sharing deep Taoist teachings in a simple way. I LOVE this book, it's been an inspiration and a positive influence for me.

Those who say that it's all fantasy and so on, obviously have never experienced deep meditative states and probably believe that the only reality is what they can see and feel with their limiting 5 senses. For those with more experience in the realm of the spirit, or more open to the exploration of their own mind and self, this book is invaluable. The journey of this Master is a wonderful teaching in itself!