Dear fellow Sapien User and potential followers of Daoism,
I am very interested in learning about this spiritual philosophy and would need a good and extensive book about this subject.
I am totally new regarding this topic and don’t know anything essential really, but feeling drawn to it due to reading about various NFT projects.
Any recommendation?
Thank you very much and take care
Here you go bro. Mantak Chia
This should keep you going for a few years. He has lots, and lots of other books. But, best to get a good grip on the practices of this one first.
For a solid understanding, especially of philosophical concepts, I would NOT recommend Mantak Chia (if you meet him personally, you can see that his longevity techniques have not really worked for him…) - so he is like the pop-culture of Daoism. And many have wrecked their energy systems following his hodge-podge techniques, especially related to sexual alchemy.
Some good books:
And also any books by Wang Liping & Jerry Alan Johnson (shamelessly plugging in for my personal teachers haha)
He really looks like he’s aged poorly. Granted I am the pot calling the kettle black.
Solid guy. I have not read any of his books personally (I think I have his Acupuncture manual in hard copy) - but I studied a form of spontaneous Qigong he teaches from one of his students and amazing stuff. I loved their lineage energy.
I have four of his in hardback. Just pulled out The Tao of Balanced Diet due to this conversation. Theyve been sitting in my unread queue for four months.
Sounds awesome, I am gonna check it out myself. 
I’m not a Doaist by any means, but I have studied a fairly number of religious and philosophical systems. What tends to stick with me are primary texts. Those broaden the mind. For sure, your understanding will be all wrong, but that’s okay. We are products of era and cultural. I took this approach when learning about Stoicism, and I found it enjoyable. The later works made more sense.
So my two cents is read the early texts first because their “otherness” will impact you more. Once your brains are good and scrambled, read some commentary. Though, I should note that my goal is not so much to understand as a subject but to have an encounter with it in a way that something remains with me after I’ve moved on.
Add-on. There’s a list of the early under the Daoism Wikipedia page under the section ‘Texts’.
Thank you very much for the list, Mao.
Reading the descriptions and reviews,Thomas Clearys and Sifu Shou-Yu Lians books appeal to me.
Your teacher Dr. Johnson has a lot of publications on Amazons Kindle E Store. The following heavy priced book appeals, too:
https://www.amazon.de/Daoist-Alchemy-Gong-Training-English-ebook/dp/B07GTHSY83/ref=d_reads_cwrtbar_sccl_1_1/260-9921865-2641149?pd_rd_w=FmSbE&content-id=amzn1.sym.eba900c6-9a63-4f66-b954-2d7b99113f68&pf_rd_p=eba900c6-9a63-4f66-b954-2d7b99113f68&pf_rd_r=QTKAT8ZVE0H54WPFPJC4&pd_rd_wg=9Y00H&pd_rd_r=01936044-8830-45d1-8c71-b5b5bb2b6d85&pd_rd_i=B07GTHSY83&psc=1
Is it his magnum opus and essential teaching?
I may have misunderstood what you are looking for. As to spiritual philosophy, keep in mind anything that can be said about the tao is not the tao.
If you want to be a taoist, practice taoist exercises.
There is nothing unconventional or controversial about the practices given in Mantak Chia’s book I linked to. Last I checked he was 79 years old and still going strong.
As the cultivation exercises begin to increase your personal power, your connection to the tao will become stronger resulting in an intuitive understanding of the tao. Be prepared to be patient. Yang Jwing Ming, who also has aged considerably as has Qigong Master Chunyi Lin, and the founder of Fragrant qi gong, died young of cancer; yet fragrant qi gong is a magnificent cultivation practice. Anyway, in regard to patience, Ming remarked in embryonic breathing that he had been practicing meditation improperly for about 20 years or so, before discovering the “spot” in the brain.
At the end of the day, no one can teach you about the dao, they can only point the way by teaching ever more sophisticated cultivation practices and providing a model of spiritual, consciousness development.
Good luck, and fruitful cultivation.
Hi Rene,
JAJ has held various hats. A clinical Daoist, Daost Sorcery, Daoist Philosophy - various aspects and has books for any hue and flavor one would want.
This book is pretty dense and useful if you are already familiar with the subject. If you are new, I would not recommend it (a lot JAJ’s books were written as textbooks for his students).
When I first read his books, I was initially turned off but when I personally met him, I was amazed at his practical attainments (I don’t say this lightly having met many famous and infamous Daoist teachers). My interest has mainly been in Daoist Sorcery (it does not mean the negative Western connotation associated with the word sorcery) and medical qigong aspects - and he has 5 wonderful volumes on it which are used as textbooks in several alt medicine colleges. I don’t seem to have this particular book in my collection, the one you mentioned (or may be I do, I will look again haha)
Concepts are useful as are books. As we say in rDzogchen, the right view alone produces the right results from any practice. A practice, devoid of the right view, produces deviations. So, it is important to have a firm understanding of concepts. The very fact that folks assume that Daosim is all about techniques and cultivation is in itself wrong because pure philosophical schools of Daoism do not practice any techniques - what to practice to realize what is already known? And there are cultivation schools that emerged after the original Daoist schools, with a good amount of influence from Indian Buddhism and we now have the current cultivation-centric Daoism.
All that said, given its price, I would say proceed with discernment. Also, if I happen to find it at a cheaper price anywhere, I will message you (I am always on the lookout for rare editions).
Good luck on your amazing journey!
Thank you very much, Morphed. I will consider it. Experience and seeing results should be the imperative. I am purely interested in the development of my consciousness to be able to answer the big questions in life. Or at least intuitively grasp the correct cause and effect relationships if possible.
I am someone who prefers to read in books and tries to understand the concepts on an emotional level instead of doing physical practices to enhance my spiritual development, like meditation and yoga for example. I am very lazy in this regard, lol.
So Daoism could fit my gloves.
Since Zen’s latest lengthy post where he partially talked about Sorcery being part of the cancer consciousness and seeing the websites and persons of online sorcery communities, I am very distant to that matter. For example:
So with Daoist cultivation practices we can illuminate these technologies which are already within us from a neutral and positive standpoint instead of selling our soul to some lesser demon and getting these in return.
I will start to use YouTube and then proceed with the two books I mentioned from your list. Maybe I find some free videos of Dr. Johnson first before buying his study books.
Thank you Mao 