Tao, The Great Luminant

Essays from the Huai Nan Tzu

Evan Morgan

9781465578983

282 pages

Library of Alexandria

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Overview

The two articles by Dr. Evan Morgan which appeared more than ten years ago in the Journal of the North China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society were the harbingers of this volume. The first article, in the 1922 issue, was based on the twelfth essay of Huai Nan Tzû and had the alternative title of "The operations and manifestations of the Tao examplified in history, or the Tao confirmed by history." Either of these titles is a long paraphrase of the cryptic title of the original Tao Yin. The contrast between the verbose title in Ennlish, which tries to reveal the meaning, and the laconic prototype in Chinese, which successfully conceals it, may be taken as an instructive introduction to the study of ancient Taoist philosophy in the terms and according to the norms of western philosophy. The second article, which may be found in the 1923 Journal, discusses "The Taoist Superman"—chih jên. In these two contributions one may enter the portals of this volume.