[.ca] Yuan Dao: Tracing Dao to Its Source (ISBN 0345425685)

From Amazon.com:
Is it a backhanded compliment to recommend a book more for its introduction than for the main text itself? Not if the introduction turns out to be twice the length of the text, as it is in Lau and Ames's collaboration Yuan Dao. The first chapter of the early Chinese Taoist text Huainanzi, Yuan Dao is similar to the Tao Te Ching in its elaboration of the natural Tao and the actions (or inaction) of the sage. It is worth reading for its limpid lyricism alone. With Ames's prefatory remarks, not only the text, but the whole of early Chinese thought comes more into focus. The reason we see ancient Chinese works as wisdom literature is that the Chinese were more interested in the how of the world than the what of it, and so Ames takes Yuan Dao as a jumping-off point for examining a world-view that contrasts sharply with ours but is still surprisingly modern. The original author (or sponsor) of Yuan Dao lost his life partly because it is a work that proposed pluralism and noncoercion in a time of forced consolidation. In our time, this message rings still rings true. --Brian Bruya

Invaluable to follwers of Daoism:
There are no real faults with this book. The Introduction is interesting. An essential book for those seriously interested in the Daoist Perspective.

Historically important and impeccably translated:
Besides the Yuan Dao's enormous historical and philosophical value, the introduction to the Yuan Dao is the most important introduction to taoist thought that has been written in many years. It clearly defines the essential differences between the way Taoist and Western philosophies think.

Another vital fragment of the Huainanzi:
This book joins John Major's 1993 "Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought," edited (interestingly enough) by Roger Ames, in translating another portion of the Huai nan zi corpus. According to the translators, Yuan Dao comprises the opening treatise of the Huai nan zi, itself an important record of early Chinese astronomy, meteorology and cosmology, of which Major has previously translated the most relevant portions. As others have stated, the authors' introduction comprises about one third of the book, and it is an insightful discussion of some of the cultural and literary forces that shaped early Han cosmology and culture. The context provided by this essay can deepen anyone's study of traditional Chinese culture and history. Like the Dao de jing, Yuan Dao comes down to us in terms that sound at times naturalistic, at times political. Yet, it is essential to remember, much as the authors suggest in their discussion of the concepts of qi and heart-and-mind, that philosophy, natural history, politics, strategy, medicine, literature and other traditional Chinese pursuits were not conceived of as distinct pursuits by the Chinese. Accordingly, much of early Chinese literature addresses many apparently distinct subjects simultaneously. In Yuan Dao, Lau and Ames have thoughtfully provided us with additional ways to get at the many meanings of this literature.

An excellent translation of a very important document:
In my opinion, this document is of equal standing with the Chuang-Tzu and the Lieh-Tzu in importance, and as a compilation of thought, in a way more important as these documents as an overview of Taoist thought. Having read a more obscure translation earler, I found this translation to be delightfully accessible and clear. There are excellent notes, summaries, explanations, and histories to compliment the document. I wish they had been present in the earlier translation I had dug up. After reading the Tao Te Ching, read this before moving on to the Chuang-Tzu, Lieh-Tzu, or any other Taoist document. It's worth it - and in the spirit of Lao-Tzu, not too long or wordy.