Taoist Master Chuang [Paperback]

Michael R. Saso (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 8, 2000

Until his death in 1976 Master Chuang, a descendant of 35 generations of Taoist Priests, carried out his ancient rituals for the benefit of a small band of believers in Taiwan. His family, who claimed to have come from Hua Shan, the Taoist mountain in western China, followed the observances of the Dragon-Tiger Mountain sect in southeastern China. Although there are many conflicting Taoist schools, the antiquity and authenticity of Master Chuang's traditions cannot be doubted.

Michael Saso, a Western disciple of Master Chuang, recounts the teachings of Taoist Master Chuang, including Taoist history as Master Chuang understood it, the role of Taoist Priests in modern Chinese society, and Master Chuang's own rituals of Taoist black magic, meditation, and rarely discussed exorcistic thunder magic.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...classic of modern Taoist studies, providing a rare first-person account of the daily life of a Taoist practitioner in Hsinchu... -- Ian Johnson, Beijing Correspondent, The Wall Street Journal/The Asian Wall St. Journal

Taoist Master Chuang is a must-read for anyone who aspires to a greater understanding of modern, living Taoism. -- Brock Silvers, President - The Taoist Restoration Society

Taoist Master Chuang presents a rare view of Taoist history, philosophy, religion, and ritual, spiced with lively anecdotes... -- Professor Kenneth S. Cohen, Author - The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing

About the Author

Michael Saso, Professor Emeritus at the University of Hawaii, has researched and written about Taoism for over thirty years. An initiated Taoist Zhengyi Sect Priest, he is one of the world's best known Taoist teachers and lecturers. Professor Saso has authored fourteen books and countless articles on a variety of Taoist topics.

Product Details

• Paperback: 317 pages
• Publisher: Sacred Mountain Press; 2nd edition (August 8, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967794803
• ISBN-13: 978-0967794808
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,275,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Eye-Opening Book, September 17, 2001

By 

Stephen Wells (Miami) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taoist Master Chuang (Paperback)

I have an MA in Taoism, and I'm considering going after my PhD. I've spent lots and lots of time reading through dusty books on Taoism, and I can assure everyone that I think this is one of the best. In an area where translations of the Tao Te Ching abound, this is one of the few works that provides real detail regarding Taoist practice. Instead of philosophy and spiritual fluff, this book really relates what it is like to be a Taoist in the world of dust. Only after reading and re-reading this wonderful book could I really begin to see how Master Chuang captures the heart of Taoism in concrete actions, and how he does this on behalf of his community. Everyone interested in Taoism should read this book!

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Dissenting Opinion, September 25, 2004

By 

Annoying Academic (The East Coast) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taoist Master Chuang (Paperback)

I can certainly appreciate the excitement that a lot of readers have expressed about this book--I felt the same way when I read it years ago (the book was first published in 1978 as *The Teachings of Taoist Master Chuang*). But I was schocked to see that the book has been reprinted, because, to put it mildly, it was not very favorable received in academic circles. Now, for many readers, this won't mean a thing, and may in fact be a mark in the book's favor. That's cool. But if you are interested in the history of Daoism, or in good ethnography, then you may want to read an old (and infamous) review article on this book, published in 1980. It's called "History, Anthropology, and Chinese Religion." [Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, Vol. 40, No. 1. (Jun., 1980), pp. 201-248.] This is an *extremely* harsh review of the book, and in many ways a petty one. But it makes many damning points. For example that Saso gets his history very wrong. But perhaps more importantly, he does some strange things for an ethnographer, like introducing material from the published Daoist canon for Master Chuang to comment on--material that Chuang had never seen. This calls into question just what kind of Daoism Saso is learning, in the book. But, it's an exciting book, it gives some views of Daoism that are valuable, etc. Just FYI, caveat emptor, etc.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars!, January 1, 2002

By 

Thomas Rainey, PhD (Cambridge) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Taoist Master Chuang (Paperback)

Can I just get in line behind everyone else here? This is a unqiely excellent book. I highly recommend it. There are soooo many books about Daoism, except that almost none have any real relevance to Daoism whatsoever. Here we have a scholar who seems to have a deep understanding of Taoist practice. But this is a book about his training at the hands of a true Daoist Master, so I guess that's to be expected. Nonetheless, this is a real, authentic, detailed view of Taoist practice. Not highflying philosophy or navel-gazing, but real descriptions of real practices. Some of the activities described in this excellent book are astoundingly complex. It's as if someone realized the concept of yin-yang, and kept developing it without cessation for a long, long time. Eventually, detailed practices regarding ritual, spirits, magic, personal transmutation and more arose. This is basically the history of Taoism itself, as reflected in the knowledge of one intensely experienced Master, as told by his spiritual disciple. My only complaint with this book? I wish it were twice as long.