3000 Years of Taoist History, Cosmology, & Practice: MUST READ

3000 Years of Taoist History, Cosmology, & Practice: Concise Overview

This is a MUST READ for anyone on Tao path. This one article gives the best overview of Taoism I’ve seen anywhere.

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3000 Years of Taoist History, Cosmology, & Practice: an Overview

Note: This long article is mandatory reading for anyone seriously pursuing a Taoist path. Fabrizio Pregadio is undoubtedly one of best scholars of Taoism and internal alchemy on the planet. His goldenelixir.com site offers many important neidan texts to be downloaded.

This lengthy overview was written for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/daoism-religion) under the somewhat misleading title of “Religious Daoism”. Posted with permission. Read the excellent entries under “Laozi” and “Neo-Daoism”.

As Pregadio explains, the ancient Chinese had no term for “religion” or “philosophy”, and Taoism merges them. This overview is best complemented by a reading of Isabelle Robinet’s Taoism: Growth of a Religion (Standford, 1997). Robinet and Pregadio, along with Livia Kohn, are the Three Pure Ones of Tao scholarship. They have a depth of understanding of neidan (in particular) that amazes me: how can a non-practitioner know so much? — Michael Winn