Weekend Literary Supplement: "Digging Your Own Well", Part Seven

In this instalment, I start to talk a bit about different books you can read about Daoism, and why some are better than others. 

 
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Recommended Daoist Texts

There are a lot of Daoist books, there are a lot of English translations of these books, and, there are a lot of academic books about Daoism. Unfortunately, IMHO, most of them are not terribly helpful for someone who wants to use Daoism in their life. As I see it, the problem comes down the fact that very few authors really have the necessary qualifications.

First of all, most translators are experts at one thing, and one thing only: translations. And, unfortunately, even most native Chinese speakers don't really have a clue about Daoism. So why would someone who has never made the effort to study Daoism be able to understand what they are translating well enough to make it comprehensible to readers and not lose a lot of the nuances?

Other books are written by sociologists and historians who study Chinese society. They often are also skilled translators. But they are rarely actual practitioners of Daoism or philosophers. This limits their ability to understand what they are studying and their ability to communicate what knowledge they may have with others who are interested in integrating Daoism into their personal life. Moreover, as academics their job is to tease out differences between ancient Chinese ways of looking at the world and modern ones, not identify similarities. This is useful for academic research, but can make books about Daoism almost impossible to understand by the general public. Moreover, university culture rewards writing that is boring, jargon-laden, and, obscure. This also makes many academic books extremely hard to understand by the general public. 

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Some academics see this as “a feature, not a bug” because they simply do not believe it is possible for non-Chinese, non-members of a Daoist religious sect to understand Daoism. Probably the most rabid exemplar of this position is Russell Kirkland. In his presentation “The Taoism of the Western Imagination and the Taoism of China: De-colonializing the Exotic Teachings of the East”, he makes some very strong statements about not only the quality of many “translations”, but also questions if it is even possible for anyone in the West to be a Daoist.

Perhaps an American today can indeed become "a Taoist." But if so, how and where can that really happen? Not, certainly, in an American bookstore, library, or classroom. I would say that if one travelled, for instance, to the Abbey of the White Clouds in Beijing, and underwent the spiritual training necessary to practice Taoism in the living tradition of "Complete Perfection," then a person of our society might be justified in claiming to "follow the Tao."

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If Taoism has something to offer the modern world, it is not to be found in the profitable inanities found on the shelves of American bookstores. Taoism is a religion of China, and it is studied by learning classical Chinese, by reading the great works of Taoism (which remain unknown to all but a handful of scholarly specialists), and by learning how to practice Taoism from real Taoists — from the living men and women of China who have maintained the ideals of Taoist tradition, and might be persuaded to teach a sincere Westerner what it truly means to live a Taoist life.1

I agree with Kirkland that there are a lot of terrible books about Daoism.2 But I think he takes his position far too far. He believes that there is no such thing as “philosophical” Daoism. His argument for this point of view is based on his belief that there never were any people in China who called themselves “Daoists” who would have said this distinction (ie: between “philosophical” and “religious” Daoism) exists. The problem with this argument is that while it might be demonstrably true, it is irrelevent. The categories of “philosophical” versus “religious” can be understood in sociological terms, which is what Kirkland is doing. This involves looking at the official theology, rituals, ecclesiastic organizations, historical progression of ideas, etc. In contrast, if you look at Daoism using philosophical terms---which is what I am trying to do in this book---you only care about the ideas, not the culture. So, for example, it doesn't matter from a philosophical analysis whether or not Zhuangzi is a minor figure in institutional religious Daoism (one of Kirkland's points) because all I care about is whether or not his ideas will help a modern person live a better life. Indeed, you can look at almost any text and try to understand the implicit philosophical ideas in it. This is why, for example, there has been a proliferation of books like Star Wars and Philosophy3 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale4
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Some books are written by Daoist practitioners. But many of them don't know English well enough to be able to be able to make their ideas comprehensible. Others have pretty good English skills, but don't have a wide enough education to be able to integrate Daoism into the world of Western ideas. This dramatically limits their ability to express complex, subtle concepts. Still others have gained their knowledge about Daoism from only one specific source, and have no knowledge at all about the broad range of different schools and sects in the Daoist universe. Many writers suffer from two or more of these problems.

Finally, very, very few people in general have an ability to express themselves in clear and precise language. Even worse, you can be an excellent writer and either not know much, or, be consciously writing garbage because you need the money and that's the only way you can get paid. Getting something published has very little to do with being a deep thinker and excellent writer. People get their stuff into print because they are very famous people and that will help sell books. Or, they support very popular “faddish” things that publishers think will sell books (hence the philosophy of Star Wars and Buffy.) Or, they are part of an academic institution that ensures that anything they publish will be subsidized by various direct and indirect methods. Both academic and trade publishing are businesses, and no matter how brilliant and insightful a book might be, unless there is a way of making money off it, it simply will not get into print. As a result, a lot of terrible books get published. Conversely, I suspect that many insightful and profound manuscripts languish in the drawers of writers.


1“The Taoism of the Western Imagination and the Taoism of China:De-colonializing the Exotic Teachings of the East”, Russell Kirkland, Presented at the University of Tennessee, 20 October 1997. Available at the author's personal website.


2He would no doubt be quite offended by this book.


3Yes, this is a real book. Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine. Jason T. Eberl, Open Court (March 23 2005), ISBN: 978-0812695830.


4Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale. James B. South and William Irwin (Editors) Open Court (March 21 2003), ISBN-10: 0812695313.

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Furthermore I say unto you, the Climate Emergency must be dealt with!