Heres a selection on taoism from watkins books shelves. I mentioned a passage from the book of genesis earlier, but there are also. Students of taoism and eastern philosophy will inevitably come across the notion. Derek lin is an awardwinning, bestselling author in the tao genre.
The basic writings of chuang tzu have been savored by chinese readers for over two thousand years. The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. The ten thousand things is a chinese expression used to mean the indefinite multitude of all forms and beings in manifest existence. Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy taoism the metropolitan museum of art. Top 10 books on taoism watkins mind body spirit magazine. But the tao itself is not god, nor is it a god, nor is it worshipped by taoists. Laotzu also known as laozi or laotze was a chinese philosopher credited with founding the philosophical system of taoism. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name.
Tao produced the one the one produced the two, the two produced the three. Two things, one origin, but different name, whose identity is a mistery. Tao te ching chapter one tao the way that can be spoken of is not the constant tao the name that can be named is not a constant name. The path that cant be walked, the way that cant be named. He was born in taiwan and grew up with native fluency in both mandarin and english. Thus, the constant void enables one to observe the true essence. He is best known as the author of the taoteching, the work which exemplifies his thought. In taoism the universe springs from the tao, and the tao impersonally guides things on their way. The ten thousand things wanwu are the sum of entities generated by the. Were i forced to say to what class of things it belongs i should call it immense. Its hard enough to understand taoism in its native ancient chinese, let alone a different culture settinglanguage. And the three produced the ten thousand things tao begets being, being begets heaven and earth, and the latter begets all the things in the world.