Original Tao: Inward Training (Nei-Yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism

by Harold D. Roth

Book Overview

Revolutionizing received opinion of Taoism's origins in light of historic new discoveries, Harold D. Roth has uncovered China's oldest mystical text--the original expression of Taoist philosophy--and presents it here with a complete translation and commentary.

Over the past twenty-five years, documents recovered from the tombs of China's ancient elite have sparked a revolution in scholarship about early Chinese thought, in particular the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231115652
• ISBN13: 9780231115650
• Release Date: November 2004
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 275 Pages
• Weight: 2.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 9.1" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

At the origins of Taoist mysticism

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.

Excellent introduction to early Taoist thought

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

A foundational text of early Taoism.

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.