Books by Friederike Assandri (translator)
“What I find so interesting is what happens with this highly ambiguous, poetic philosophical text, because the Daodejing is a series of 81 aphoristic poems. They’re highly interpretable and plastic. Different commentaries arise through the Daoist tradition. Some of them take this series of 81 aphoristic poems and turn them into systematic philosophical systems—and no one does that better than Cheng Xuanying. I really enjoy this coincidence of opposites, having a series of philosophical poems that are very non-specific in their implications, and then a highly systematic interpretation and rendition of them in almost a structured theology.” Read more...
Simon Cox, Historian
Interviews where books by Friederike Assandri (translator) were recommended
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1
The Taoist Experience: An Anthology
by Livia Kohn -
2
The Daode jing Commentary of Cheng Xuanying: Daoism, Buddhism, and the Laozi in the Tang Dynasty
by Friederike Assandri (translator) -
3
Zhuangzi: A New Translation of the Sayings of Master Zhuang as Interpreted by Guo Xiang
by Richard John Lynn (translator) -
4
Taoism and the Arts of China
by Stephen Little (editor) -
5
Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life
by John Gray
The best books on Taoism, recommended by Simon Cox
The best books on Taoism, recommended by Simon Cox
In the West, Daoism (also spelled ‘Taoism’ in English) has sometimes been reduced to a ‘go with the flow’ approach to life, but there’s a lot more to it than that. Simon Cox, a scholar and martial arts teacher, recommends five books that demonstrate Daoism’s “robust intellectual and aesthetic traditions” since the movement first appeared in China two-and-a-half millennia ago.
