The Wisdom Of The Taoists (wisdom Series) [Paperback]

In Chinese, Tao means simply way or path, and the mysticism of the early Taoists grew out of the longing and search for union with an eternal Way. To attune oneself to the rhythms of nature rather than to conform to the artificialities of man-made institutions (embodied in the rigid hierarchies of orthodox Confucianism) became the goal of Taoist masters such as Chuang-tz?, who refused high office so that he could, like the turtle, drag his tail in the mud. As the British authority on early Chinese religion, D. Howard Smith, expresses it in his lucid introduction to?