Original Tao (Hardcover)

by Professor Harold D. Roth (Translator) "During the past quarter century, a procession of long-lost texts has emerged from more than two millenia beneath the soils of China..." (more)
Key Phrases: Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Kuan Tzu (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
Original Tao is an outstanding contribution to the study of early Taoist religion and thought. No one who is interested in these subjects will be able to ignore it. -- Review

Original Tao is an outstanding contribution to the study of early Taoist religion and thought. No one who is interested in these subjects will be able to ignore it. -- Victor Mair, Professor of Chinese Languages and Literature University of Pennsylvania

Review

"In his rigorous scholarship of textual archaeology and mystical hermeneutics, Harold Roth has given us invaluable insights, the analytical tools and a perspective to examine the religious traditions of not only China, but of the rest of the world as well." -- Franklin J. Woo, China Review International

"Searching for the origins of things remains a perennial favorite of Western scholars. For millennia, this quest has been at the core of innumerable scholarly projects.... Harold Roth's Original Tao: Inward Training and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism continues this time-honored investigation, applying it to Taoist mystical writings, in a search for what Roth calls 'the original tao.'" -- John A. Tucker, Philosophy East & West

"Here is a work that does justice to the beauty of this long poem, for so long neglected to the virtually exclusive benefit of Zhuangzi and Laozi.... The reader will find in the quality of the textual edition, in the numerous translation discoveries, and in the willingness to provide maximum coherence to this text, a profound and original effort." -- Romain Graziani, T'oung Pao

"An estimable achievement by one of the foremost scholars of early Taoism in North America... powerful and original." -- Paul Rakita Goldin, Sino-Platonic Papers

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Columbia University Press (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0231115644
• ISBN-13: 978-0231115643
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #746,621 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent introduction to early Taoist thought, May 5, 2000

By	Anthony Breu (Providence) - See all my reviews

Original Tao is a wonderful translation of an often over-looked text. The verses contained within this short work rival and often surpass those found in the more well known Taoist classic, Lau-tzu.

In addition to the translation, Professor Roth's commentary on Chinese mysticism is phenomenal and provides an interesting back-drop to the history of Taoist thought.

I highly recommend this book to both newcomers and veterans of Taoism

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At the origins of Taoist mysticism, April 13, 2008

By	Gavioli Maurizio (Pieve Ligure, Italy) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Original Tao: Inward Training (Nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism (Translations from the Asian Classics) (Paperback)

The centre of this 200-pages book is the critical edition of the Chinese text and the scholar translation of the Nei Ye (55 pages). Before and after this part, an introduction and 4 other chapters trace the history of the text, its contents and structure, its position in the context of the early Taoist mysticism and its position in the context of the early Taoism in general.

The Nei Ye is not a recent discovery; it was known since millennia but, buried in a supposed Confucian miscellany, its actual contents and significance have been since long overlooked. This book attempts, with success, to re-assess them, placing this work at the origins of Taoist mysticism, as the earliest extant text of the tradition which will later express more widely known works like Laozi and Zhuangzi.

"Original Tao" is a scholar book, it is not an 'easy' reading and the reader without any familiarity with ancient China's history and philosophy will be easily overwhelmed by the amount of names, data, quotations and so on.

On the other hand, its language is not too technical, and basic concepts are never taken for granted but appropriately introduced. And, above all, the new lights it casts on (and the grounds it provides for) the development of the early Taoist mysticism are for sure of great interest even to the layman who knows Taoism only through (more or less sound translations of) the Laozi and the Zhuangzi.

While not really new (it has now about 10 years), this book is definitely to recommend to anybody with a non-casual interest on Taoism.

The only (small) criticism I can make is the use of an old Chinese transliteration system instead of the now more widely used pinyin system.

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A foundational text of early Taoism., March 5, 2000

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Original Tao provides a new translation and commentary which revise Taoism's origins and reflect new historic discoveries, uncovering the original expressions of Taoist philosophy and using original texts as masterworks for revision. From an introduction of short poetic verses devoted to meditation to the author's contention that the seminal Taoist work Inward Training is the foundational text of early Taoism, this provides an intriguing new examination.