Taoism Information Page

Recommended Reading

• The following list of printed books in English offers several good places to begin reading to obtain further information about Taoist traditions, assumptions, beliefs, and practices. If not in your local library, the listed books are likely to be available in a university library, a large bookstore in a nearby city, or online at Amazon.Com or a similar electronic bookstore.
  
  Introductory Level: Academic and General Books
• Julia Ching, Chinese Religions (London: Macmillan; Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1993)
        From a Christian missionary publisher, [but or and?] a readable introduction.
• Livia Kohn, Daoism and Chinese Culture(Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press, 2001)
        The best introductory guide and available for sale online from the publisher.
• Laurence G. Thompson, Chinese Religion: An Introduction, 5th edn (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1996)
  
  Introductory Level: Anthologies of Classical Texts
• Jordon Paper and Laurence G. Thompson, editors, Chinese Way in Religion, 2nd edn (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1997)
• Livia Kohn, The Taoist Experience: An Anthology (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993)
• Deborah Sommer, editor, Chinese Religion: An Anthology of Sources (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995)
• Eva Wong, editor and translator, Teachings of the Tao: Readings from the Taoist Spiritual Tradition (Boston and London: Shambhala, 1997)
  
  Introductory Level: Basic Reference Works
• Ingrid Fischer-Schreiber, The Shambhala Dictionary of Taoism, tr. by Werner Winsche (Boston: Shambhala, 1996)
• Julian Pas, A Select Bibliography of Taoism, 2nd enlarged edition (Saskatoon: China Pavilion, 1997)
• Julian F. Pas and Man Kam Leung, Historical Dictionary of Taoism (Scarecrow Press, 1988)
• Eva Wong, The Shambhala Guide to Taoism (Boston and London: Shambhala, 1997)
• Wu Dingbo and Patrick D. Murphy, eds., Handbook of Chinese Popular Culture (Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 1994)
        Chapter 5 on "Religion" by Jordan Paper includes an extensive bibliography.
  
  Intermediate Level: Academic Books
• Livia Kohn, Early Chinese Mysticism: Philosophy and Soteriology in the Taoist Tradition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992)
• John Lagerwey, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History (New York: Macmillan; London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1987)
• Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion, tr. by Phyllis Brooks (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997)
• Benjamin Schwartz, The World of Thought in Ancient China (Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1985)
  
  Intermediate Level: Classical Texts and Commentaries
• Stephen R. Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997)
• Livia Kohn, editor and translator, Laughing at the Tao: Debates among Buddhists and Taoists in Medieval China (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1995)
• Livia Kohn, Taoist Mystical Philosophy: The Scripture of the Western Ascension (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1991)
• Michael LaFargue, editor and translator, The Tao of the Tao Te Ching: A Translation and Commentary (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992)
• Michael LaFargue, Tao and Method: A Reasoned Approach to the Tao Te Ching (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994)
• Ralph D. Sawyer, editor and translator, Sun-tzu The Art of War, with the collaboration of Mei-chun Lee Sawyer (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1994)
• Eva Wong, editor and translator, Lieh-tzu: A Taoist Guide to Practical Living (Boston and London: Shambhala, 1995)
  
  Advanced Level: Academic Books
• Stephen Eskildsen, Asceticism in Early Taoist Religion (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998)
• Norman J. Girardot, Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism: The Theme of Chaos (Hun-tun) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983)
• A. C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (La Salle, Illinois: Open Court, 1989)
• Livia Kohn and Michael LaFargue, editors, Lao-tzu and the Tao-te-ching (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1998)
• Jordan D. Paper, The Spirits Are Drunk: Comparative Approaches to Chinese Religion (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1995)
• Mu-Chou Poo, In Search of Personal Welfare: A View of Ancient Chinese Religion (Albany: State Univ of New York Press, 1998)
• Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation: the Mao-shan Tradition of Great Purity, tr. by Julian F. Pas and Norman Girardot (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993)
• Kristofer Schipper, The Taoist Body (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993)

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