Customer Reviews

The Wandering Taoist

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it is out of print but you will find it and the second and third books combined in; The Chronicles of Tao : The Secret Life of a Taoist Master

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.

This book is the powerful and dramatic, true life story of an ascetic Taoist monk that gives tremendous insight into what monastic life must have been like, as well as surviving the turbulent years of China's internal and external conflicts. Kwan Saihung's own struggle as to his path in life is analogous to the very philosophy of opposing energies studied by the Taoists. Upon meeting this humble master personally, I have found that truth is truly stranger than fiction and was convinced of his authenticity due to his superior physical and mental ability despite his advanced years. This book and the two others in the trilogy have inspired me to delve deeper into the Taoist philosophy as well as Taoist martial arts. I highly recommend these and other books by the author Deng Ming-Dao.

This is an amazing book with an enlightening story!

This is an incredible adventure of boy growing up in an ancient secret Chinese Taoist martial art school. The book shines light on the lost art and science of the supernatural potential of the transcendent human.

It seems to be a mystery whether this book is fiction or not. But since I have read it I have run into a lot of material that could support it as a non-fiction. For instance there is a lot of archeological evidence, as hard as it is to believe, that ancient people had supernatural abilities far superior to anything we currently know.

One thing that I thought was fiction before was the part about the vast caves of Huashan which were unheard of; that is until now: Vast ancient of caves of Huashan were just discovered by a local farmer, by accident at a mysterious latitude 30 degrees north connecting with the pyramids and the Bermuda Triangle. Read: http://www.china.org.cn/english/travel/53225.htm Just finding out about this new discovery of these caves motivated me into writing a review for this book.

Did the person who wrote this book have some ancestral or secret information from `Master Kwan'? Was this information purposefully kept a mystery as to whether it was fiction or not for controversial or considerate reasons? Who knows?

Whether the book is fiction or not doesn't matter because it's an adventure that can never the less open your mind to a bigger picture of the human condition.

The novel The Wandering Taoist is a true story by Deng Ming Dao that takes place in China at a time when their were martial art families or clans one would be born into as a child. You as the reader will follow along with the Wandering Taoist as goes from a young average human to the ellightened being he is today. I really enjoyed this book, not only because it was well written but because you actually feel as if you have gotten something out of reading this book. You will be more in touch with yourself.

A friend recommended this book to me; in retrospect, his intent was clear. Like the Bhagavad Gita, Deng Ming Dao's The Wandering Taoist emphasizes the necessity to cut all worldly ties, however strong, however steeped in tradition, however "right" and "just" those ties may appear. For in the final analysis, we are all here to learn life's lessons, face them squarely, and move on to better things - in this life or the next.

Like the Don Juan novels of Carlos Castenada, a series of logically impossible phenomena and events are recounted that take place on the edge of our knowledges. Unlike those novels, The Wandering Taoist presents a very evocative and informative picture of Taoism. While the first few chapters may be slow-going, the book "reads itself" quickly.

Recommended for anyone interested in Taoism.

Example- From Poul Andersen, A Visit to Huashan in Cahiers d'Extreme Asie 5 (1989-90): pg. 349 - 354:

"It may be added in this connection that the book [Hedda Morrison's Hua Shan: The Taoist Sacred Mountain in West China], with its fascinating pictures of monks and landscapes, has evidently served as one of the sources for an interesting forgery concerning Huashan, namely Deng Ming-Dao's The Wandering Taoist (San Francisco, 1983). The latter publication contains the biography of one Kwan Saihung, a teacher of martial arts somewhere in the United States, who was ostensibly brought up on Huashan and there initiated into the Zhengyi Huashan sect (sic). The biography is presented as based on stories allegedly told by the master himself. Thus on p. 59 we read, as part of the hero's account of his experiences during his first ascent of Huashan: "The East Peak Monastery was plain stucco and tile and was composed of groups of four-square buildings set in quadrangles. There were also smaller huts of wood and clay. As they passed a hut set behind an iron bell topped with a stone cup that collected dew, Saihung saw a willow-thin man sunning himself on the terrace. He wore grey robes and a black hat with a jade rectangle sewn to its front. The accolytes told Saihung that he was a sorcerer." But comparison with Plate 38 in Morrison's book makes it clear beyond peradventure that the description is based upon this photograph, and not possibly on independent observation at Huashan. No doubt the picture shows the dew-collecting stone cup above the iron bell, but closer scrutiny reveals that in fact the cup is standing at some distance behind the bell. It is thus only the photographic angle that makes it possible to see "an iron bell topped with a stone cup" (in itself, of course, a rather unlikely concept). "

I'd like to get a copy of Hedda's pictorial book and check out this description. http://www.daoiststudies.org/scholars.php?cmd=list&userid=936

Anyways, I enjoyed the book a lot.

Deng Ming Dao did a good job of gathering facts about Master Kwan Saihung's past but failed to go beyond that. There were many mysteries but he never explained them in detail. The first couple of chapters may keep your attention but the remainder of the book gets annoying because you are constantly bombarded with unbelievable phenomena one after another and they are never even touched on. I suggest reading the book but you could get the same info in the "Chronicles of Tao".

Untill now I was not a spiritual person. The book is well written, yes. What got me though was the quality of the story it told. True? Who cares? That's really not the point.
For me reading this book was like talking to someone I could really relax with for a long time. Only I wasn't talking. I was listening, and the words I was hearing made alot of sense.
I think everyone should read this book, It might do some good.
peace is nice but love is better

It is advisable to try to find the three books series, as the "Chronicles" is abridged, and some of the most interesting martial arts information was left out. A very interesting piece regarding all the varied martial arts training at the turn of the last century on Hua Shan(mountain), and describes the interaction between the various Buddhist and Taoist temples, in sharing/exchanging martial arts knowledge and training. Would perhaps make a great movie screen play.