The Taoist Body

The ancient system of thought known as Taoism remains today the least well known of the world’s great religions and one of the most inaccessible wellsprings of Chinese culture. This is in large part because Western thought, despite the unifying insights of recent science, clings to the notion of the separation of matter and spirit, body and soul, Taoism refuses this dualism and considers the body's survival as essential as the soul's survival is to Christianity. Kristofer Schipper, departing from those who understand Taoism solely as a religious doctrine, argues compellingly for its inseparability from many traditional activities and practices of everyday life in China. His elegant and lucid introduction to the traditions of Taoism and the masters who transmit them will reward all those interested in China and in religions. Kristofer Schipper is currently Directeur d'Etudes at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes, Sorbonne, Paris, and Professor of Chinese History at the University of Leyden. An ordained Taoist priest and one of the world’s leading authorities on Taoism, Schipper has published extensively on the subject in French, English, Chinese, and Japanese. Le corps taoiste (The Taoist Body) was first published by Fayard, Paris, in 1982. Karen C. Duval is currently Research Editor with The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Norman Girardot is Chairman of the Department of Religious Studies at Lehigh University and author of Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism (California, 1983). Translation of: 'Le corps taoïste', first published in 1982 by Librairie Arthéme Fayard, Paris