Way-Making the Dao

 

#walkingthetao, #laozi, #zhuangzi, #liezi, #taoteching, #iching #studyingdaosim #daoism

Way-Making the Dào 

(Disclaimer: I'm a student of Daoism--not a Daoist master. I was a teacher for 36 years and discovered I always learned best when I had to teach material, so the following is what I've distilled from a "Daoism Discovery Journal" I've kept since January 2025. If it helps others looking into Daoism as well--all the better. But this is as much for me as anyone.)

This entry is the first in a ten-part blog series that provides an introduction to Way-Making the Dào as an active, creative participant.

Below is a list, with links, to each entry in this series.

1. Way-Making the Dao (This page)

    (Intro and essential readings)

2. Way-Making Exercises

    (Meditation and Qigong)

3. Making Life Significant 

    (Wu-forms and ziran)

4. Yijing

    (The Book of Changes)

5. It's about time!

   (Time and Timing)

6. Cosmogony 

    (The Daoist creation story: Wuji, Taiji, wanwu)

7. The Daoist Teachings about "the Soul"

     ("Who goes there?"--and who doesn't)

8. Life and Death in Daoism

     (more on "Who goes there?"--and who doesn't)

9. Tiānrén-héyī -- Union with the Dao

    (Humanity's Role in all this Way-Making)

10. Way-Making through Daily Rituals

    (in for a penny, in for a pound)

Introduction

According to ancient, seminal Daoist texts, the Dào is very much alive, transforming and initiating change everywhere, all the time.

I've been a life-long learner, interested in and reading about world religions since my late teens. Daoism stood out for me even then, and I've flirted with its ideas off and on for most of my life. Three years ago, I renewed my studies of Daoism and then eight months ago realized it was time to quit flirting and start going steady.

One of the books I recommend below, the Dao De Jing, translated by textual scholars Roger Ames and David Hall, contains the subtitle, Making Life Significant. And I can say the study of Daoism has transformed--and continues to transform--my own life in remarkable ways. Along the "way," I'll include comments about my own experiences, but I'll try not to let those interjections detract from the material presented. 

It's taken a while to sample and identify good resources to make this journey, and I've finally learned there are key works that can guide any self-learner. All the titles below are readily available, and I've hyperlinked links to sources that offer these works.

By the way, don't be intimidated by this list--it's taken me eight months to identify and acquire these volumes. For decades my dalliance with the Dào was based solely on the Wilhelm/Baynes version of the I Ching listed under item #5 below. But it was item #1 three years ago that started me on the current path. I didn't even discover the three "essential" readings (Items #2-4) until a couple of months ago! 

If you're new to Daoism, my advice is to skim this list but start with Ming-Dao (#1). From there, you can browse, read, and discover what interests you.

1. Ming-Dao's The Scholar Warrior: An Introduction to the Dao in Everyday Life. A good introduction to Daoism, and the writing that set me on this path three years ago. Also excellent for essential Qigong and meditation exercises that connect you with the Dào (the topic of the second blog posting in this series). 

The next three entries on the list below are by the first philosophers in ancient Chinese history to clarify what Daoism is all about, and they're still the essential go-to readings.  (By the way, I used Google's Gemini AI to generate brief historical biographies about those authors, with relevant excepts inserted in parentheses, for these next three readings.)

2. Laozi's Dao De Jing. (Traditional sources claim that the legendary Chinese philosopher Laozi lived during the Zhou dynasty, 1046–256 BCE, with some dating his birth to the 6th century BCE. However, modern scholars doubt his existence as a single individual and believe that his foundational text, the Daodejing, was compiled over time.) This work is more widely read across the world than any other book except the Bible.

Lots of good translations out there, but one worth close consideration, and linked above, is by textual scholars Roger Ames and David Hall, 2010. Their version begins with a thorough explanation not only in their choices for translated Daoist terminology but also for a thorough explanation of Daoist assumptions. It's heady stuff, but well worth the time and trouble to read.

3. Zhuang Zhou's Zhuangzi (Zhuang Zhou, the philosopher, lived from approximately 369 BCE to 286 BCE during the Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty.) The provided link above is for Brook Ziporyn's 2020 translation, which includes useful historical and biographical information as well as an excellent glossary for ancient Daoist terms, concepts and definitions. Considered the second essential classical writing about Daoism. 

James Legge's classic Zhuangzi translation, first published in 1891, is still widely cited and read, with the advantage that it also provides the original Chinese text. 

4. Liè Yǔkòu's Liezi. (Liè Yǔkòu lived in the Chêng State not long before the year 398 BCE.) Translator Lionel Giles, published in 1912, but still widely read and cited. Considered the third essential classical writing about Daoism. 

5. Yijing, Three versions, to get everything you need:

    * The I Ching or Book of Changes, by trans. Richard Wilhelm (from Chinese to German) and Carey Baynes (that German to English), contains the First and Second Wings (Tuàn Zhuàn) by King Wen and the Duke of Zhou, and the Fifth and Sixth Wings (Xiàng Zhuàn) by Confucius. (See Ten Wings below, item #6)

    * The Complete I Ching, trans. by Daoist Master Alfred Huang, for the essential Seventh Wing (Wényán Zhuàn) by Confucius (See item #6 below). I might add, I prefer this translation of the Yijing these days because it's closest to the intent of the Ames and Howard version of the DaoDeJing (item #2 in this list).

    * The Living I Ching, trans. by Daoist Master Deng Ming-Dao, because it's perhaps the most readable translation for a modern audience, plus great additional introductory material on Daoism not covered in his Scholar Warrior book (item #1 above).

6. The Ten Wings. The traditional commentaries on the Yijing are part of what is known as the "Ten Wings," a set of ten in all. 

All the versions of the Yijing listed under entry #5 above embed the First and Second Wings, which are more ancient than the remaining five Wings provided immediately below in this list entry. Those embedded Wings One and Two are written, respectively, by King Wen and The Duke of Zhou. (King Wen, c. 1099/56–1050 BCE, and the Duke of Zhou, late 11th century, reigned 1042–1035 BCE, were key figures in the Zhou dynasty.) King Wen was the sage who was architect to the sequential arrangement of the Yijng's 64 hexagrams, which describe the cycles of change in Nature governed by the Dào.

The five most fundamental of the remaining Ten Wings are:

• Tuàn Zhuàn (Commentary on the Decision)
• Xiàng Zhuàn (Commentary on the Images)
• Wényán Zhuàn (Commentary on the Words of the Text)
• Xì Cí Zhuàn (Great Commentary or Appended Statements)
• Shuō Guà Zhuàn (Discussion of the Trigrams)

The above commentaries are attributed to Confucius or his disciples from the Confucian School in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE. The Wilhelm/Baynes translation includes all the above except for the Wényán Zhuàn, which can be found in Huang's translation. (I know: It's a bit of a pain to cobble together all these ancient readings.)

Click here for the next post, which addresses essential Daoist practices that cultivate an awareness of the Dào within you.