Customer Reviews

Taoist Meditation: The Mao-Shan Tradition of Great Purity (Suny Series, Toward a Comparative Philosophy of Religions)

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This book is a wonderful study of the authentic Taoism from one of the most important Western experts, Isabelle Robinet. It is not a simplified beginner's manual, nor in tune to the "instant gratification" stereotype of the modern life, but it is a treasure for the serious researcher or a practitioner.

"Taoist Meditation" offers a unique insider perspective to the traditional meditative and ritual practices, symbols and talisman work, as well as to the spiritual origins of "Jing" or "Heavenly Scriptures" (channeled by the adepts into some important works of the Taoist cannon). I was delighted to discover a vital information about a number of classic Taoist texts (little known on the West) and a detail analysis of "The Book of the Yellow Court" (Huang Ting Jing, translations of both "Externa" and "Internal" scripture is available on Amazon in "Jade Writing - Yellow Court Classic" and, for "External Scripture" only in "Gold Pavilion") and "The Book of Great Profundity" (Da Dong Zhen Jing, for which I couldn't find an English translation).

A serious student can easily integrate the provided information to the own practice.

In addition to a comprehensive study of different Taoist topics, the book also provides the original Chinese (in older, Wade-Giles Romanization, not the Pinyin though) for the crucial terms, a number of rare images from the old scriptures and an extensive Bibliography of Chinese-only texts. Highly recommended!

There was not even a single meditation, just talk about meditation.Very disappointing. Most Daoist meditations and somewhat template driven for a specific goal. This wan nothing more than academic masturbation.

Don't misunderstand me, I simply mean this translation from French is the only way for a French speaker (fluent in English) to read this famous book by Isabelle Robinet, out of print since long in France...
By the way (if I may say so), Taoism is fascinating, and once one has read an introductory text (say, the anecdotes on the lives of Lao Tseu and his followers) , this book is the right way (!) to go further!