This course seeks to introduce students to the evolving teachings usually called "Daoist philosophy" and "Daoist religion," so that the student may devise an appropriate context in which to understand the continuities, changes, and contradictions within those traditions.

required texts:
Csikszentmihalyi and Ivanhoe, Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi
D. C. Lau, trans., Lao tzu Tao te ching
Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion
Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation
Kristofer Schipper, The Taoist Body
Burton Watson, Chuang tzu: Basic Writings

recommended:
Livia Kohn, The Taoist Experience
Richard Wilhelm, trans., The I ching (widely available at half price)

assignments:
There will be 3 required papers of no more than 5 pages, at least one of which is to be written in cooperation with one or two fellow students:

For paper no. one, students have two choices: (1) Contrast and compare (a) any one theme in the Laozi and in the Zhuangzi; or (b) any one theme, such as death, in the Platonic Dialogues or the writings of the Stoics and in the Zhuangzi; OR (2) Give two different readings of the Zhuangzi, both supported by your close reading of the text. To help with choice #1, students may consult Paul Kjellberg, "Sextus Empiricus, Zhuangzi, and Xunzi," Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi, ed. by Paul Kjellberg and P.J. Ivanhoe, pp. 1-25 or the relevant chapters from Martha Nussbaum, Therapy of Desire.

For paper no. two, the choices are: Consider the Yijing in one particular aspect at some depth. For example, a paper might look at a single hexagram, relating it to others in the text. Alternately, it might examine a prominent theme in the text (e.g., timing) or critique one of the standard accounts of the Yi ching (such as those by Wilhelm, by Kunst, or by Shaughnessy). Another possibility would be to compare and contrast the world views expressed in the Changes and in the Canon of Supreme Mystery (also known as the Elemental Changes) by Yang Xiong (trans. by Nylan).

For paper no. three, the theme should be (1) the place of sexual practices within Daoism (comparing, e.g., Henri Maspero's account of the heqi ("uniting the qi") with selections from the Sexual Art of the Bedchamber or Jeanne Larsen's Silkroad); (2) the relation between Daoism and popular religion, via Terry Kleeman's A God's Own Tale or Kenneth Dean's Popular Religion in Southeast China, OR (3) the relation (or possibly the lack of relation) between the Zhuangzi passages on meditation and the practices outlined in Schipper and Robinet.

NOTE: There will also be a one-hour mid-term and a one-hour final. Class participation is expected from ALL members of the seminar. It counts for a considerable part of the final grade (40%).

readings:
First week: D. C. Lau, Lao tzu Tao te ching. Come prepared to class with two or three chapters of the Laozi to discuss. Have questions or comments ready on those passages. (My advice is to jot them down on paper, since we often forget what we want to say by the time class rolls around.) Come prepared also to discuss at least four essays in the edited volume by Csikszentmihalyi and Ivanhoe, besides the Introduction: those by the editors, by Robinet, and by van Norden.

Second week: We focus on reading Zhuangzi's chapter two. As background, also read: Arthur Waley's "Introduction" to The Way and its Power; also, the introductions by Burton Watson and A.C. Graham to their translations; A.C. Graham, "Taoist Spontaneity and the Dichotomy of 'Is' and 'Ought' (in on Zhuangzi, pp. 3-23); and A.C. Graham, "Chuang tzu's Essay 'On Seeing Things as Equal'," History of Religions 9:2-3 (1969-70), 137-59.

Third week: Zhuangzi's chapters 1, 3-4 are assigned. Read also Lee Yearley, "The Perfected Person in the Radical Chuang-tzu" (Experimental Essays, pp. 125-39).

Fourth week: By this class, finish all of Chuang tzu: Basic Writings. The focus of today's class should be on these two questions: (1) What strategy or strategies does the Zhuangzi text advocate? And why? (2) Is the Zhuangzi text mystical? If so, why? If not, why not? Thinking about specific "artisan" and "death" anecdotes in the Zhuangzi would be a good place to begin.

Fifth week: Focus on "Autumn Floods." How does it relate to other chapters in the Zhuangzi text?

Sixth week: We turn to the Yi Ching (Yijing, or Changes). The idea is first to familiarize ourselves with the text by reading three background essays: Arthur Waley, "The Book of Changes," BMFEA 5 (1935), pp. 121-42; Willard Peterson: "Making Connections: 'Commentary on the Attached Verbalizations' of the Book of Change," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 42:1 (June, 1982), 67-116; and Michael Nylan, The Five "Confucian" Classics, chap. 5.  In preparation for class, students should read through the "Great Commentary" with care. Finally, turn to hexagrams 1, 2, and 63, and 64. Try to make some sense of them. If you're bewildered, consider the uses of bewilderment. I will also put on reserve a book called The Yi Ching Workbook, which some have found helpful.

Seventh week: First, a one-hour midterm is to be taken in class, then the rest of the time is to be used for yin/yang and the Five Phases theory. For that, read A.C. Graham, Disputers of the Tao, pp. 313-370, and then if there's time; John Major, Heaven and Earth in Early Han Thought, pp. 23-72; 82-118; 131-39; 158-61. (Worth consulting is Colin Ronan's account of Five Phases cosmology in his The Shorter Science and Civilisation of China, vol. 1, the section on correlative thought).In preparation for class, take a look at Yang Xiong's Elemental Changes (on reserve), whose tetragrams correspond to the Changes (as indicated under individual tetragram titles). Comparing some hexagrams and tetragrams, we can derive at least four basic principles that the Changes is trying to instill. Write those four down on a piece of paper, and be ready to exchange them with seminar members in class.

Eighth week: Nathan Sivin, "On the Word 'Taoist' as a Source of Perplexity, with special reference to the relations of Science and Religion in Traditional China"; Isabelle Robinet, Taoism: Growth of a Religion.

Ninth week: for early ideas of the afterlife: Albert Dien, "Chinese Beliefs in the Afterlife," The Quest for Eternity, pp. 1-15; Anna Seidel, "Traces of Han Religion," Dokyo to shukyo bunka, ed. by Akitsuki Kan'ei, pp. 21-57; Michael Loewe, Ways to Paradise, pp. 98-101; Poo Mu-chou, In Search of Personal Welfare (selections); Donald Harper, "A Chinese Demonography of the Third Century B.C.," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 45:2 (1985), 459-498; FSTY, ch. 9 (draft translation by Nylan).

Tenth week: Rolf Stein, "Religious Taoism and Popular Religion from the Second to Seventh Centuries," from Facets of Taoism, pp. 53-81; Ko Hung, Alchemy, Medicine, and Religion in the China of A.D. 320, trans. by James R. Ware, pp. 53-96. Those who are interested in fangshi should consult Kenneth DeWoskin, Doctors, Diviners, and Magicians of Ancient China (Columbia, 1983). Read also Stephen Bokenkamp, Early Daoist Scriptures, pp. 29-148.

Eleventh week: Kristofer Schipper, The Taoist Body.

Twelfth week: on Daoism and sexual rites: Henri Maspero, "Taoist Adepts and the Search for Immortality: Bodily Techniques," in Taoism, pp. 265-271; "Methods of Nourishing the Vital Principle," ibid., pp. 443-516 (skim), 517-555 (read carefully); Douglas Wile, "Sexual Practices and Taoism," Art of the Bedchamber, pp. 24-51; Donald Harper, "The Sexual Arts of Ancient China as Described in a manuscript of the Second Century B.C.," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 47:2 (1987), 539-93; Kohn, Taoist Experience, pp. 133-160.

Thirteenth week: Isabelle Robinet, Taoist Meditation; Kohn, Taoist Experience, 191-248. Those with a particular interest in music may wish to consult John Levy, Chinese Taoist Music, Lyrichord Stereo LLST 7223, BD II (171). Highly recommended also: Judy Magee Boltz, "Singing to the Spirits of the Dead: A Daoist Ritual of Salvation," in Bell Yung's book on ritual music, pp. 177-225.

Fourteenth week: last class, on Taoism and politics: Anna Seidel, "The Image of the Perfect Ruler in Early Taoist Messianism: Lao tzu and Li Hung," History of Religions 9:2-3 (1969-70), 216-47, which makes more sense after reviewing Livia Kohn, Taoist Experience, pp. 71-80; Richard B. Mather, "K'ou Ch'ien-chih and the Taoist Theocracy at the Northern Wei Court, 425-451," Facets of Taoism, pp. 103-122.