Dao House... Daoist Literature

Dao House...

Daoist Literature

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Basics

From folklore to literate theater: unpacking 'Madame White Snake'

Laozi

http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-EPT/wha.htm

Zhuangzi

Journal article by Whalen Lai (University of California, Davis) examines the Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist influences that transformed the story from "ur-myth" to feminist theater.

Metaphysics

Early

If the Han tale of Dong Yong represents 'fortuitous encounter,' then the Wei-Jin zhiguai (records of strange happenings) would be our ghost stories about 'run-ins with the devil.' The former spoke up for Confucian mores; the latter for the Taoist fascination with the unknown. Unlike the former, which is so on the up-and-up as never to titillate the reader's basic instincts, the latter has more entertainment value."

www.internationalhero.co.uk/m/monkey.htm

Art

Synopsis of part of the Buddhist-Daoist tale Journey to the West by Wu Ch'eng-en (1500?-1582) combines fables, legends, superstitions, and "whatever the author could find in the Taoist and Buddhist religions." From the International Catalogue of Superheroes site.

Poetry

Literature

Music

"The combination of Monkey's Taoist skills, the Peaches of Immortality, the Wine of Heaven, the food and five bowls full of the Elixir of Long Life he consumed have made him truly indestructible. Even when Lao Tsu puts him into his Crucible of the Eight Trigrams and smelts him with alchemic fire for 49 days, the only effect is to make Monkey's eyes permanently red. Monkey escapes and then proceeds to run amok in Heaven in a rage, smashing everything and beating up everyone "

Sermons

Tao of...

Resources

The Dream of the Red Chamber

www.scu.edu.tw/english/teachers/steelman/steelman/kuhn000.htm

Introduction by Franz Kuhn to the English translation (by Florence and Isabel McHugh) of the classic epic novel (by Cao Xueqin, c. 1715-1763), "which is undeniably Taoist." From David Steelman's (Soochow University, Taiwan) home page. Includes Chapter One. And the University of Virginia Chinese Text Initiative has the Preface and Chapter One translated by E. C. Bowra here.

"From the Confucian point of view, it might be the story of the wealth and honor of a great noble house and its self-destruction... From the Buddhist and Taoist points of view... It is a story of the gradual awakening, purification, and final transformation of a soul originally sunk in the slime of temporal and material strivings."

Classics Revisited: The Dream of the Red Chamber

www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/cr/7.htm#The Dream of The Red Chamber

Part 7 includes Kenneth Rexroth's essay on the classic.

"The Dream of the Red Chamber is Taoist; its principle of salvation is inaction - wu'wei: the strength of the still keystone in the arch; the water wandering amongst mountains seeking its own level, eventually wearing away the highest peaks."

The Chinese Classic Novel in Translation: The Art of Magnanimity

www.bopsecrets.org/rexroth/chinesenovels.htm

Rexroth's 1958 essay, in which he asserts:

"...that The Dream of the Red Chamber and the Japanese Tale of Gengi are the two greatest works of prose fiction in the history of literature... The Dream of the Red Chamber is the better novel because it is the truer, the more profoundly humane."

Taoist Mirror: Ching-hua Yuan and Lao-Chuang Thought

http://ccbs.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTEXT/JR-JOCP/jc96111.htm

Journal article by Hsin-sheng C. Kao (California State University, Long Beach, Asian and Asian-American Studies) explores the Daoist framework of Li Ju-chen's {Li Ruzhen) 1820 novel, Romance of the Mirrored Flowers.

"For some scholars, it might be unthinkable to situate Lu Ju-chen in the mainstream of Taoism: his work is only a fiction, not a Taoist tract. He did not analyze the Taoist passages deeply enough; he was too satirical. Yet in his way, Lu Ju-chen was indeed one of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu's most fascinating descendants, not because he reasoned as they did, but because he responded to many of the same questions on a plane which is unlike so many others yet which remained consonant with their thought -- that is, on the ontolgical and allegorical plane..."

[Li Ruzhen (Li Ju-Chen): Flowers in a Mirror]

www.oocities.org/jessnevins/vicy.html

Find a synopsis of the novel under the second entry, "Yan Ziqiong" (the heroine of this allegorical "defense of Daoism"). From Jess Nevins's (reference librarian, Sam Houston State University) Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana site.

Li Ju-chen: The Land of the Great (1828)

www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/li_ju-chen.html

And here's an excerpt from Li's novel, translated by Lydia Gerber. From the series Reading About the World, edited by Paul Brians (Washington State University, English), et al.

"'I have always wanted to come here,' said T'ang, 'ever since I heard that the people here ride around on clouds instead of walking.'"

Thoreau and Taoism

www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/roots/hdt-tao.html

1972 book chapter by David T. Y. Ch'en argues that Henry David Thoreau must have had access to Daoist literature, and, indeed, that the parallels between his works and Zhuangzi's (Chuangtse) are too striking to be coincidental. From the American Transcendentalism Web site of Ann Woodlief (Virginia Commonwealth University).

"It is really remarkable that both Thoreau and Chuangtse were able to detach themselves and look upon themselves as human insects. It seems to me that their way of thinking and their way of writing were in the same track."

Daoist Influences in the Work of Oscar Wilde

http://knol.google.com/k/tom-atwell/daoist-influences-in-the-work-of-oscar/
1znx4myo9qh4n/3?domain=knol.google.com&locale=en

Tom Atwell (software developer, Southern California) explores affinities between Wilde and Zhuangzi.

"In 1890, Herbert Giles published an English translation of the writings of Zhuangzi. Wilde reviewed the work for the magazine The Speaker... In the writings of the Daoist, he discerned the sentiments of one who seemed to be responding to the mediocrity and circumscription of a social environment not unlike his own."

Joyce and Tao

www.deepleafproductions.com/wilsonlibrary/texts/raw-taojoyce.html

1959 essay from the James Joyce Review by the late Robert Anton Wilson (radical futurist and conspiriologist) finds Finnegan's Wake to be especially Daoistic.

"Joyce is nowhere more thoroughly Taoist then when he answers all the paradoxes and tragedies of life with the brief koan-ish 'Such me.' Genial bewilderment ('Search me') and calm acceptance ('Such I am') meet here as they meet nowhere else but in Taoism... We cannot understand; neither can we escape - 'Such me.'"

Franz Kafka: Power, Religious Minorities and the Inception of Existence

www.cesnur.org/2003/bauer_kafka.htm

Engrossing 1999 conference presentation for CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions, Torino, Italy) by J. Edgar Bauer (University of Heidelberg) declares that:

"Only Kafka's enthusiasm for Chinese thought and religiosity, especially Taoism, seems to have been wholehearted and unwavering."

The Tao of Salinger

www.lyceumphilosophy.com/?q=node/104

Sara Kallock (Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH) follows threads of Daoist thought in Salinger's works.

"It is after The Catcher in the Rye and with the increased influence of Eastern thought in Salinger's life that Salinger's characters find contentment in an unsatisfactory society and become the accomplished saints of the Taoist lifestyle... Only in Holden does one of Salinger's characters fail in becoming a model for Taoist saintliness, for he is not able to dissolve his ego, and therefore unable to love society without thinking of his own opinion first. Yet even in Holden's story, the message of Taoism in implied..."

The Man in the High Castle, by Philip K. Dick

www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/highcastle.htm

Review by Adam Roberts of PKD's Hugo Award winning masterwork of alternate history, in which the Yijing (I Ching) plays a key role.

"Of course, 'truth' is one of the slipperiest quantities in Dick's moral universe, and Dick is careful to indicate the sort of interpretive strategies that make use of the universe, based in this work on Taoist concepts of balance, without spelling out easy answers."

Meaning in The Man in the High Castle

http://members.tripod.com/~ashwood/tmithc.html

By Laura Campbell, PKD "addict."

"...there is enough circumstantial evidence to show that Dick was using the I Ching himself at the time he wrote TMITHC and probably did make use of the I Ching at storyline junctures for his characters... What are the chances that two characters, Tagome and Juliana (in other words, Dick) would get the same hexagram in two separate, but contiguous, moments of crisis? Well, there are only 64 of them

Vertex Interviews Philip K. Dick

www.philipkdick.com/media_vertex.html

Interesting 1974 interview by Arthur Byron Cover.

"Dick: ...If you use the I Ching long enough and continually enough, it will begin to change and shape you as a person. It will make you into a Taoist, whether or not you have ever heard the word, whether or not you want to be. / Vertex: Doesn't Taoism fuse the political and the practical? / Dick: This is the greatest achievement of Taoism over all other philosophies and religions."

The Man in the High Castle, A new introduction by Eric Brown

http://website.lineone.net/~ianw/ericbrown/manhighcastle.htm

Notable science fiction writer Eric Brown's (UK) introduction to the recent Penguin edition of the novel includes biographical information and a synopsis.

"In opposition to Nazi ideology Dick posits the philosophy of Tao, which offers a means of examining the universe through the principles of inter-connectedness - or Jungian synchronicity - at odds with Western ideas of a universe that functions on the mechanistic basis of cause and effect. In his use of Tao, Dick suggests that the world presented in The Man in the High Castle is but an illusion, that other, better worlds might exixt."

I and Tao

www.philipkdickfans.com/forums/read.php?f=5&i=31&t=31

Grad student paper by Derek Weiss (Regent College, Vancouver) uses character and plot to examine "Daoism, Perspective, and the Problem of Evil in Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle." From the Philosopher's Corner forum at the Philip K. Dick Fans site.

"...the world of [The Man in the High Castle] is something of a maze. Yet this maze does not have a single correct exit point. Neither does it have several, equally valid exit points. Instead, the book presents the world as a maze without any exit points whatsoever... all analogies fall short, for this worldview is a Daoist one."

The Mirror of Tolkien

http://trumpeter.athabascau.ca/index.php/trumpet/rt/printerFriendly/513-870

Essay from the Trumpeter, by Anna Marie Resta (reporter, Alberta, Canada), discusses "the Natural world and community in the Lord of the Rings" and finds "a philosophy similar to those of the person-planetary paradigm and Taoism."

"Within Philosophical Taoism, the intrinsic value of all living things is respected. Conversely, in technocratic society, they are considered solely on the basis of their instrumental or resource value. Unable to see the forest for the timber, Humans today have deemed it more economical to harvest via clearcut..."

Yin and Yang Quests

www.theonering.net/features/notes/note15.html

Essay by Tehanu (a.k.a. Erica Challis, NZ) links Tolkien, Le Guin, and Daoism. From TheOneRing.net site.

"The Yang action in The Lord of the Rings is marvelously balanced by the characters' inward search. Frodo and Sam after all have only their own tiny spirits to call on for the endurance to challenge Mordor, and their victory is in the end one of acceptance, endurance and surrender - Yin qualities. That wonderful balance could be seen in Taoist terms, though it would probably have horrified Tolkien to put it that way."

Halldor Kiljan Laxness (1902-1998)

www.kirjasto.sci.fi/laxness.htm

Biographical account of the Nobel-prize-winning Icelandic writer, by Petri Liukkonen (Finland), from the Pegasos site.

"Laxness became interested in Oriental religion, especially Taoism of Lao-tze which is seen in Paradise Reclaimed (1960), a story about spiritual search, and Christianity at Glacier (1968).

Ursula LeGuin's Magical World of Earthsea

http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/ALAN/spring96/griffin.html

By Jan M. Griffin, from The Alan Review digital library and archives.

"Earthsea revolves around the principles of Taoism... 1) the theory of inactivity in which one acts only when absolutely necessary, and 2) the relativity of opposites."

The Lathe of Heaven (Novel and TV Film)

www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/courseinsf/Loh.html

Richard D. Erlich's (Miami University of Ohio, English) analysis of Le Guin's novel and the acclaimed 1980 PBS movie (not to be confused with the inferior A & E version) focuses on the Daoistic themes. And this review by Anthony Leong provides an interesting account of why the movie was in limbo for 20 years before its 2000 re-release..

"And it's a familiar challenge in Le Guin's work: we have come out of the forest, climbed out of the sea, and we ask with that urExistentialist Koheleth, the Speaker in Ecclesiastes, What is good for the sons of men in our few days under the sun? Except that here the answer is the very nonExistentialist, nonWestern one of Taoist wu wei: ordinarily, do nothing."

Le Guin's Lathe of Heaven and the Role of Dick: The False Reality as Mediator

www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/5/watson5art.htm

1975 article by English sci-fi writer Ian Watson, on Le Guin's most Dickian novel. An absorbing think-piece. Includes Watson's time-line of Le Guin's Hainish chronology. From the Science Fiction Studies site (DePauw University).

"It is as though while writing of those inner lands with her left hand, and of outer space with her right hand, a third hand has mysteriously intruded on the scene, attached to [Dick character] Palmer Eldrich's prosthetic arm, and it is this hand that has tapped out Lathe on the typewriter."

Analysis of Ursula K. LeGuin's The Left Hand of Darkness

www.angelfire.com/ny/gaybooks/lefthandofdarkness.html

By Rebecca Rass (Pace University). [Popup alert]

"...George Edgar Slusser... argues that Taoism is 'the strongest single force' in her writing."

Coyote's Song: The Teaching Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin

www.sfra.org/Coyote/CoyoteHome.htm

An entire 18-chapter book by Richard D. Erlich (Miami University, OH, English), put online by the Science Fiction Research Association. For Le Guin scholars and fans, this is awesome! Nearly every chapter includes much substantive discussion of Daoism in LeGuin's works, especially Chapter 6, "Transition: Daoism, Magic, and Getting in Touch" (includes a lengthy list of themes and their locations in the Daodejing) and Chapter 7, "Explicitly Daoist Works." [Popup alert]

"Le Guin, I think, is a quite consistent syncretic Daoist... very much a low-church, really big-vessel Daoist who places people into the world, onto the karmic wheel of everyday... Le Guin combines an anthropological view and Daoist myth so completely with a new kind of hero that we may miss-consciously-the lesson taught that we can tell stories without the old Hero, without the sky-gods, mostly without conflict."

Study Guide for Ursula K. Le Guin's The Word for World is Forest

www.users.muohio.edu/erlichrd/courseinsf/word.html

Thorough page-by-page study guide by Richard D. Erlich points out historical, literary, psychological, and philosophical (including Daoist) analogies in Le Guin's novella. Includes a synopsis.

"'For you've done what you had to do, and it was not right' (33-34). A very powerful line for Le Guin. Ordinarily for her, human duty is to do what one must do, and cannot do any other way. This is a Daoist idea, stated explicitly in The Farthest Shore."

Wholeness and Balance in the Hainish Novels of Ursula Le Guin

www.depauw.edu/sfs/backissues/3/barbour3art.htm

1974 review by Douglas Barbour (University of Alberta, Canada, English) of five works of Le Guin and the recurring Daoist theme of light and darkness. See also his Addendum on The Dispossessed here. From the Science Fiction Studies site.

"...it soon becomes apparent that he considers the Handdara a religion of considerable profundity. I think it is safe to assume that Le Guin means us to agree with this opinion, partly because of the way in which Handdara thought reflects the Tao-to-ching, which is explicitly drawn upon in City of Illusions."

Chronicles of Earthsea

http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/sciencefiction/story/0,6000,1144428,00.html

Just one more on Le Guin, a 2004 "edited transcript of her online Q & A," from The Guardian.

"Q: How did you become a Taoist, if you consider yourself one?
UKL: By reading Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, mostly... I don't really know how one 'is' a Taoist. I do know that Taoist ideas inform a great deal of my writing."

The Tao of the Willow Tree

http://gadflyonline.com/archives/August99/archive-hubertselby.html

An interview with Hubert Selby, Jr. by James Lindbloom, from the Gadfly site. Selby, perhaps best known for Last Exit to Brooklyn and Requiem For a Dream, recounts some horrific experiences and claims an affinity to Daoism.

"So to answer your question, I guess I'd have to say I'm a Taoist, but I couldn't possibly explain what that means."

Mountain del Soul [Soul Mountain]

www.thingsasian.com/stories-photos/1836

Review by Kenneth Champeon (writer, Thailand) of the novel by Gao Xingjian, "the first Chinese ever to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature."

"The journey portion of Soul Mountain describes Xingjian's flight into the heart of rural China in search of lingshan, or 'soul mountain.' Along the way, he collects folk and Daoist songs... [and] discovered that the way to soul mountain is as ineffable as the Daoist 'Way'..."

Soul Mountain, Chapter One

www.austlit.com/gao/soul-mountain.html

First chapter of Gao Xingjian's novel, translated by Mabel Lee. From the Australian Literary Management site.

"The old bus is a city reject. After shaking in it for twelve hours on the potholed highway since early morning, you arrive in this mountain county town in the South... You can't explain why you're here. It happened that you were on a train and this person mentioned a place called Lingshan..."

Red China Blues - Nobel Prize Winner, Gao Xingjian, on the Spirit of Things

www.abc.net.au/rn/relig/spirit/stories/s204179.htm

Rachel Kohn interviews Gao Xingjian and Mabel Lee on her Radio National (Australia) show The Spirit of Things. Interesting background information and several excerpts from the novel.

[excerpt:] "'Venerable elder, I'm asking if you know how to perform Daoist rituals?' / 'Yes, but the government doesn't allow the performance of superstitious practices.' / 'The Qing-Chen Mountain Daoist Association has been re-registered and is open again, what are you afraid of?' / 'That's a big temple, we torchlight Daoists aren't allowed to practice.'"

Triumph of the Self: An interview with Mabel Lee

www.yorku.ca/iwai/mabel.html

Isabell Wai (Auburn University, AL, English) interviews sinologist Mable Lee (University of Sydney, Chinese Studies; translator of Soul Mountain) on Gao Xingjian and the poet Yang Lian.

"Both writers explore how reality is viewed from the self's changing perspectives. Their concept of the self apparently stems from Taoism, which cherishes the individual's unrestricted autonomy."

Finding the Yin/Yang: Constucting a Circle of Balance through Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club

www.wdog.com/svid/writing/essays/tan_1997.htm

Shawn Vidmar's (Vidmar Motor Company, Pueblo, CO) essay explores the cycling of yin and yang through Tan's novel. From the Weiner Dog Productions site.

"In the telling of their stories, the mothers are able to impose Chinese mythology and Taoist thinking upon their daughters. In time the daughters must sort out what they will retain to strike a balance and achieve the wholeness and independence their mothers wish for them."

David Payne: Confessions of a Taoist on Wall Street

www.davidpaynebooks.com/confessions.htm

Brief synopsis of Payne's (winner of the Houghton Mifflin Literary Fellowship Award) masterful first novel. Click the Amazon link for some 5-star reviews.

[From Amazon's book description:] "...The illegitimate son of a Chinese woman and an American officer, he was reared as an orphan by Taoist monks. When he learns that his father may be a wealthy Wall Street entrepreneur, he feels compelled to go to New York. His efforts to reconcile his two lives -- to find the Tao in the Dow -- make a story rich in character, wit, and insight."

The Tao of Odds and Ends

www.hellshaw.com/barry/toe.html

The interconnected stories in this novel by Barry Kavanagh (Dublin writer and musician) were inspired by Laozi and Zhuangzi. You can read the first chapter online, and also a four-part appendix of background material on Chinese philosophy, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Yang Zhu..

"A dark, dingy pub, in the middle of the day, practically empty... The man I am sitting beside is fairly merry, or fairly drunk, I'm not quite sure which. He's in the grey area, merrily drunk, I could say."

Gang of One

www.nytimes.com/books/99/09/05/reviews/990905.05seelt.html

New York Times book review (free registration) by Lisa See of Seymour Topping's novel The Peking Letter (with clickable link to Chapter One), described as:

"...a novel that weaves together the intrigue of China's civil war with discussions of ancient Taoist philosophy and personal integrity... [by] a former managing editor of the New York Times..."

A Structural Study on the Emergence of Evil in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials

www.darkmaterials.com/spyinter02.htm

Thesis by Matthew Uselton (William Byrd High School, Vinton, VA, English) on the young adult trilogy explores Pullman's transformation of the myth of "the fall" to reflect Daoist principles of good and evil. [Updated email: muselton@rcs.k12.va.us]

"The Western concept of evil evolved in Europe over the course of thousands of years, principally constructed with the ideals of the Judeo-Christian model in mind. The Eastern concept of evil arose in the Asiatic basin, namely Japan and China, and is comprised primarily of the tenets of the Tao."

Sideways Storytelling

http:/theculturalgutter.com/sciencefiction/sideways_storytelling.html

Review of Maureen F. McHugh's (Twinsburg, OH) sci-fi fantasy, China Mountain Zhang, by James Schellenberg (writer and librarian, Ottowa). From The Cultural Gutter website.

"The main character is a Daoist architect and as his graduating project he has to hold the entire plan of a house in his mind at once without getting lost in the details."

Albert Dalia's Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest

www.pleasureboatstudio.com/Dreaminfo.html

This publisher's page features the back cover blurb and five reviews of the 2007 award-winning novel in the wuxia tradition (heroic fiction), by a bona fide China scholar. Check out Dalia's "Wuxia Novelist" writer's blog here.

"...the first English-language wuxia novel... Remarkable, accurate, and well-written... very entertaining... not to mention, I learned a few concepts about Daoism..." [various reviewers]

The Tao of Junior Bonner

www.thehighhat.com/Nitrate/002/junior_bonner.html

Essay by Hayden Childs (Editor, The High Hat) on the 1972 film screenwritten by Jeb Rosebrook and directed by Sam Peckinpah. From The High Hat online magazine.

"Junior doesn't seek to move upward or downward in society, and has no irrevocable differences with anyone. He's happy to work on honing his skills and to live as simply as possible. In short, whether he knows it or not, Junior Bonner is a Taoist."

Is Chance the Gardener Wise?

www.bgsu.edu/cconline/essid/paper2.html

Student paper by Chrissy Fetterer, from a "synchronous computer conference" developed by Joseph J. Essid (University of Richmond Writing Center), addresses the question of whether the main character from the film Being There (directed by Hal Ashby; written by Jerzy Kosinski) is enlightened "in either the Taoist or Socratic sense."

"...on quick examination he seems to fit several qualities of a Taoist Sage... Yet deeper analysis of Chance's character reveals that he is ignorant of himself and ignorant that the world in which he lives does not comprise the whole universe. He is oblivious to the spiritual realm..."

Star Wars: The Force, the Tao and the Butterfly

www.scifidimensions.com/Jun01/forcetaobutterfly.htm

Writer/poet Paul F. McDonald's essay explores Daoist elements of George Lucas's Star Wars mythology, particularly in The Phantom Menace.

"Qui-Gon's philosophy makes sense if the dual parts of the Force, like the opposing sides of the Tao, are ultimately illusionary and are transcended by a hidden, deeper agreement buried somewhere in the energy field."

The Tao of Star Wars

http://members.tripod.com/~chippit/tao_of_star_wars.html

Gloria Chang's essay identifies several Daoist and non-Daoist elements. From the Exploration Network Star Wars site. [Popup alert]

"There are enough similarities between the Force and the Tao that [Anne Collins] Smith, an avid Star Wars fan, uses the movie to help explain concepts in Taoism to her classes."

Taoist Philosophy in Fight Club

http://strykerxbase.tripod.com/writings/taoism.htm

Student essay from "Stryker X" finds Daoist ideas expressed in the book by Chuck Palahniuk and the movie directed by David Fincher. [Popup alert]

"The story of Fight Club begins with our hero's dissatisfaction with himself and his pathetic life. The Yin and Yang sides of him are both present, but he has been raised to repress his Yang side. This was caused by his family life, expressed several times in the book as 'Tyler never knew his father'... It is at this point that he creates Tyler Durden, the Yang side of himself."

Looking into "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" from Perspective of Chi, Tao, Chan & Compassion

www.chikung.org.tw/etxt/20010222-1.htm

Lengthy essay by Michael Chung (Chi Kung Culture Society of Taipei) discusses the intricacies of the movie's characters, plot, symbolism, and philosophy. The movie was based on the novel by Wang Du Lu.

"The three main characters (Li Mu-bai, Shu-Lien, and Jen) in the movie respectively represent Taoism, Confucianism, and Zen (Chan Buddhism)... This movie gives an account of how to see your real self and how to intuitively comprehend the Tao."

Cool Hand Dex

http://weeklywire.com/ww/08-14-00/boston_movies_1.html

Alicia Potter's review of Jennifer Goodman's debut movie, The Tao of Steve, in which Dex, a portly slacker, uses a simplified Daoism to score with women. From the Weekly Wire site.

"She had these two friends who were particularly choosy about men, and I was interested in them. She didn't think I had a chance; when I did, she was taken aback. That's when I told her about the Tao of Steve."

The Daoist Cosmic Discourse in Zhang Yimou's To Live

www.articlearchives.com/trends-events/awards-prizes-entertainment-arts-awards/666052-1.html

Liang Shi's (Miami University, OH, Chinese Language and Literature) insightful analysis of the 1994 film To Live likens it to the Daoist tale of the old man whose horse ran away and to Laozi's "straw dogs" verse.

"Underlying the predicament is the antithesis of human nature, which cares, and nature's nature, which does not. Each side constitutes an essential theme of the film. At the same time it explores the role of Daoist cosmology, the film reaffirms the humane counterpart. Just as Heaven will not start to care, humans cannot stop caring... These dialectics of caring and not caring generate profound complexity in the film."

Taoist Tale Put on Stage

www.china.org.cn/english/8805.htm

Article from the China Internet Information Center, on the one-act drama "Zhuang Zi Tests His Wife," adapted by Cao Lusheng from a Chinese opera and film script.

"The significance of the ending, from the perspective of Taoist philosophy, is that her yearning for a second love does not go against nature, but is in fact a very human instinct. This is in stark contrast to original opera versions of the story, which purport that her actions were a violation of common moral beliefs, and therefore against the way of nature."

Religious Groups in Literature: Taoism

www.adherents.com/lit/Na/Na_468.html#682

From the Adherents.com database of "34,420 citations (mostly science fiction and fantasy) referring to real churches, religious groups, tribes, etc." The "Taoism" section, starting half way down and continuing on the following page, includes 90 entries.

[From Richard Garfield's Celestial Matters:] "He threw up his hands in melodramatic disgust. 'Would you rather we wasted our time with Platonist dithering on the nature of ideal forms while the Middle Kingdom conquered us with their impossible Taoist science?"

Teachings from China about the Way of Water

www.miracosta.cc.ca.us/home/gfloren/E1-7.htm

From an online writing course, Lesson 7 of English 100, by Gloria L. Floren (Mira Costa College, Oceanside, CA). Builds writing skills through assignments based on Confucius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, paradox, yin-yang, and water.

The Poet's Eye

www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/2001/3/01.03.10.x.html

Yel Hannon Brayton's (Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute) curriculum for high- school creative writing students includes several Daoistic lesson plans (starting mid-way down the page).

"The idea is that when either the yin force or the yang force reach their highest manifestation, there is still contained within each force a seed of the opposite one. An example of this idea from the 'Red Rose' chapter (which the class will read next) is the arrogance Yee displays when Lotus tells him that she had cheated on a poetry exam. He becomes aggressive and self-righteous (yang). He can't seem to understand why Lotus is upset with his response and becomes even more reproachful (extreme yang) at which point he begins to reflect on his own similar past behaviors (a morsel of yin). Eventually his anger cycles round to compassion."

The Tao of Writing

http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/wahlstrl/301w/isearchrw-tao.html

An "I-Search" project by Ralph Wahlstrom (Buffalo State, SUNY, English) applies Daoist philosophy to writing instruction. [Note: one of his internet sources, Douglas K. Chung's "Taoism: a Portrait" can now be found here].

"...the Tao can offer principles which guide a teacher's approach to students and the subject of writing. The natural balance of the Tao, it seems, can teach us a lot about a natural give and take in the teacher/student relationship. The flow and the sense of continuity inherent in Taoism also reminds me of the Process movement in composition instruction."

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