Running head: BOOK REVIEW OF THE ESSENTIAL TAO

Book Review of The Essential Tao Lavonia Jackson-Dunn Baptist College of Health Sciences

BOOK REVIEW OF THE ESSENTIAL TAO

This is a book review of The Essential Tao by Thomas Cleary. I could not find a section in the book that explained why Cleary wrote the book. I did some research and learned that Thomas Cleary was a graduate of Harvard University with a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilization. After continuing to search for information on the author, I also noticed that he did not agree with the way the Western civilizations wrote books about subjects that he wrote about or studied as an individual. One example I read from this book The Essential Tao. He thought that the Westerners did not understand the language and concepts as well as he did. He has written over eighty books in his lifetime and many of them have been translations from other languages. I believe he wrote this book to inform people about Taoism, but also to prove that he could do a better job at explaining the material than any other Westerner. There is something about the Western civilization that he doesnt agree with or like. Thomas Cleary makes his introduction of the book clear as he describes what Tao is and where the idea originated. He also states what the focus of life is, in three critical areas: individual well-being, social harmony, and accelerated evolution of consciousness (Cleary, 1991, p 1). He also speaks of the two famous books of Taoism named Tao Te Ching and Chuang-Tzu. These two books are their guide in life just as the Bible is my guide in life as a Christian believer. The author also gives credit to the writers of the books of Taoism and the dates of when they were published. Cleary must have done a detailed research to find these dates. Also, Cleary discusses the motives of Chuang Cho and Lao-tzu which are the authors of Taoists works of famous literature. I believe the authors main purpose in writing of The Essentials of Tao was to inform people about how to understand the literature. The book starts out with an introduction, the entire works of Tao Te Ching and Chuang-Tzu, and notes about the certain sections of the literature. The book is well written, although I read a few poems and went to the explanation before

BOOK REVIEW OF THE ESSENTIAL TAO

completing the section many times. I expected to know more about the life of the Taoist people. The book pointed out their values and what they believed in life. I was interested in the subject and in agreement with many of the poems as I read them. For instance, from Tao Te Ching, the poem Everyone Knows was translated by Cleary meaning ...it is not good for people to take their own ideas for granted, or get too fixed in their ways, lest they become so complacent that they lose their ability to diversity or change (Cleary, 1991, p 133). Although, I am not a Taoist believer, many of the concepts taught to them I can say that I agree with them. This idea is true to me as a Christian believer and an individual. The quality of the book is quite convincing. After the works of literature were presented in the book, the history of why the books were written was explained by Cleary. I believe that the history should have been presented before reading the poems. I was wondering about the history as I read the book, but I did not want to go to the back of the book for this information. Cleary discusses about how the Chinese people were in a time of war when these two works of literature were written. He also discusses Confucius in the book. This was a new concept for me. I did not know that Confucius along with Chuang Cho and Lao-tzu helped change the Chinese dynasty. I had read about Confucius only, but did not know that they worked together. Many of the Chinese people agreed with some parts of the works and not all. This idea was mainly from the concept of believing in an afterlife or not to believe in one. I have read another work by Houston Smith, PhD on Taoism. Smith does not include the entire works of literature but only portions of it. Smith discusses more about how the Taoism religion worshipped and their approach to power. Smith wanted his audience to understand more about why the people worshipped and believed the way they did. Cleary wanted to explain the teachings of the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tzu. They both did a great job explaining the material presented. Smith had a different goal to achieve than Cleary. If they were to combine

BOOK REVIEW OF THE ESSENTIAL TAO their studies about Taoism then maybe most of the ideas of Taoism would be discussed. This

would also allow me to understand Taoism from all aspects. I liked reading both authors points of view about Taoism, although I believe Clearys work was more interesting to me. I like to read poems and the fact that he explained them in the back of the book made the book even more enjoyable to read. I would recommend this book to other people to read. Cleary made his book with the famous poems from the Chinese tradition easy to read and understand. I would tell others to read this book if they want to understand the teachings of Taoism. I would tell them to read Huston Smiths portion of his book on Taoism to understand the religion aspect of the Taoist people.

BOOK REVIEW OF THE ESSENTIAL TAO References Cleary, C. (1991). The essential tao. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher.