Customer Reviews

The Taoist Body

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Schipper is one of the few of European descent to ever become an ordained Taoist priest. This gives him a unique view on some of the history and practices of Taoism but there are some caveats to be noted.

The book provides a good contextual overview of many facets of the culture that gave rise to Taoism. Schipper makes a number of interesting points regarding the general culture and Taoist practices including the so-called 'bedroom manuals'. Also included are some good points about gender issues and Taoism as well as his take on some of the Taoist legends and past masters. There are short chapters outlining Qigong and the practice of cultivation which include some very good (although short) translations of some of the more famous Taoist canons. There is also a great overview of the whole cereal abstinence debate as well as some thoughts on Taoist external alchemy that I found quite interesting. There is a good (although too short, IMHO) overview on Taoist hermits and why the took to the mountains.

All of this is presented in quite a scholarly manner, more in line with a true reference book than many others available right now. This is both good and bad, in my opinion. That is, we should remember that "the Tao that is spoken of is not the true Tao". Schipper needs to be taken with a large 'grain of salt' since obviously his 'version' of the Tao is dependent on his master's lineage. There is a reason there are so many 'flavours' of Taoism and that has to do with the fact that, ultimately, cultivation is an extremely personal past time!

So there are many aspects that are missing and possibly misleading here. Bigu (or even fasting) is not really mentioned, probably because it is not part of his sect's way. His overview on 'bedroom manuals' is interesting but that is not to say it is the 'truth' - answering something like that is ultimately a personal journey and all the spoken and written material is ultimately just a finger pointing at the moon. The same goes for everything else in the book - just one man's opinion. If he is truly practising the Way and cultivating daily then I suspect he will need to rewrite this book every year (or few months).

Anyway, definitely worth reading and some good ideas. As always, your focus on practice will ultimately determine your path.

A Euro academic style treatment of RELIGIOUS Taoism. Written by a Dutchman, educated in Paris, studying a folk religion in Taiwan in the 60's. That should say it all. Unless you have an interest a Chinese folk religion for illiterates that emphasizes talismans and ghosts, this is not for you. Were it an academic exercise it would be understandable. However, Prof Schipper apparently believes in his adopted religion. There is little worse than a converted zealot.