Category Archives: Daoism

Episode 1 of “This Is the Way”: Daoist Detachment

Richard Kim and Justin Tiwald are pleased to present a new podcast series on Chinese Philosophy, This Is the Way. The administrators of Warp, Weft, and Way have generously agreed to host supporting materials and discussions of specific podcast episodes.  Links to support pages for all published episodes can be found here.

The first episode is titled “Daoist Detachment.” In fact, it’s really just about the distinctive sort of detachment that seems to be at the heart of some (“core”) passages of the Zhuangzi. In this episode, Richard and Justin introduce themselves and talk about the motivation for the podcast series, the idea of “philosophical double-vision” that makes Zhuangzi-style detachment possible, and some worries about this sort of detachment. Below you will find a more detailed accounting of topics, some specific passages and books or articles mentioned in the episode, and an opportunity to “weigh in” and share your views about the topic (or about the hosts’ wild claims about the text).

Your feedback is very welcome! Please leave a comment below, mail the hosts at ChinesePhilosophyPodcast@gmail.com, or follow them on X @ChinesePhilPod.

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New Book: Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation


I’d like to announce the publication of my new book Ziran: The Philosophy of Spontaneous Self-Causation. Targeted specifically at students, this book takes a key concept form early Chinese metaphysics—ziran 自然—and applies it to several fields of contemporary scholarship.

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New Book: Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi

Springer has published the Dao Companion to the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi, edited by Kim-chong Chong. “It covers textual, linguistic, hermeneutical, ethical, social/political and philosophical issues, with the latter including epistemological, metaphysical, phenomenological and cross-cultural (Chinese and Western) aspects.”

A reviewer on Amazon warned “Only 34 of the 46 chapters are in the Kindle version.” Those interested might want to look into/verify this.

Online Lecture: What No One Laughs At Cannot Be Dao

The Coffee Time Talks on Chinese Thought series at Saint Louis University, sponsored by the Center for Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, will be hosting a Zoom lecture by Professor Brook Ziporyn on Wednesday, September 21st from 10:00-11:30 AM CST. The lecture is titled “What No One Laughs At Cannot Be Dao: On What Kind of Garbage is the Dao?”.

Zoom ID: 984 9500 6071

Click here for the flyer.

New Book Series: Daoism and the Human Experience

Daoism and the Human Experience is a new series that offers a platform to explore, question, and learn about the ways Daoism has or may contribute to the understanding of the philosophical, religious, literary, aesthetic, medicinal scientific, and ecological aspects of human existence. The series is launching in June 2022 with Daoist Resonances in Heidegger. Read below for more information.

Daoism and the Human Experiences seeks book proposals that will both deepen the understanding of Daoism and the world around us. The editors are still accepting proposals for monographs and edited collections that focus on Daoist thought, irrespective of the historical period, as well as information that explores Daoism within a border context.

Additional information can be found in the attached poster: Daoism and the Human Experience Call for proposals HERE.

New Book: The Daodejing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying

Oxford University Press has published The Daodejing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying, a translation of Cheng Xuanying’s 成玄英 famous and philosophically rich commentary, which in turn shaped both Daoist and Buddhist discourse thereafter. The translation is expertly elucidated with ample notes and glosses by the translator, Friederike Assandri, a leading authority on Cheng Xuanying and the Twofold Mystery School.
This is now the third translation in the Oxford Chinese Thought book series, which is devoted to providing high-quality translations of important philosophical and religious texts, for scholars and for classroom use. A short description follows below the fold.

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Zhuangzi Stories Animated

We’ve launched a YouTube channel animating Zhuangzi stories (subtitles in various languages):

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrGQmh7lzx5NtDW05Fsj9Qw

It’s also available in Spanish:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpnZxr3USI_nv1aoF6dPyA

And on Bilibili in Chinese:

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1sX4y1N7WU/

 

Call for Papers for Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought (Virtual)

16th Annual Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought
Wright State University
30 April-1 May 2021
The Midwest Conference on Chinese Thought was created to foster dialogue and interaction between scholars and students working on Chinese thought across different disciplines and through a variety of approaches. Submissions are invited for papers on any aspect of Chinese thought as well as papers dealing with comparative issues that engage Chinese perspectives.


This year’s conference will be held virtually on Friday, April 30 and Saturday, May 1 and hosted by Wright State University. Our keynote speaker will be Robin R. Wang, Professor of Philosophy at Loyola Marymount University.

Professor Wang will present “Dao of Rou 柔 (Suppleness): Proprioceptive Knowledge and Its Epistemological Value in Early Daoism”:

Through Chinese intellectual history, early Daoism, a Dao-based and inspired teaching and practice, has been considered the philosophy of rou 柔 (suppleness, pliant, yielding, softness), which the Daodejing couples with water, the infant, and the feminine. A popular Chinese binary expression of culture, gen 根 (root/foundation) and hun 魂 (soul/spirit), takes Dao as the root of Daoist teaching and rou as a spirit of Lao-Zhuang. However, rou has often been understood only as de (德) moral virtue or shu (术) strategy, something more practical than conceptual. This talk will respond to this theoretical gap and argue for rou as a form of proprioceptive awareness or bodily knowledge that shapes a cognitive style and an epistemological stance to guide our rational effort, illumination, and well-being. More importantly, this rou style of knowing embodies the epistemic value, such as intellectual humility, openness, receptivity and resilience, for a cognitive success.
Similar to previous conferences, we anticipate selecting 12-16 papers for presentation. For consideration submit a 1-page abstract to Judson Murray at judson.murray@wright.edu by January 31, 2021 for blind review. For more information, visit the conference website here.