Nine Nights with the Taoist Master, by Waysun Liao

[cheya]

Nine Nights with the Taoist Master, by Waysun Liao

"Master Waysun Liao's story of Lao Tzu's visit to a border town in China before wandering across the Western mountains toward India. During the visit he reveals the secrets of living in the Tao. Portions of these secrets eventually become the text of the Tao Te Ching. The importance of this story is that it lends context to the enigmatic text of the Tao Te Ching. Without this context, the interpretation of this classic will vary widely. With the context of a story, there is a cohesive vision of the eighty-one chapters of the Tao Te Ching which explain how man may live in harmony with the world and the world unseen." (from Dancing Dragon's review on Amazon)

Waysun Liao has written another translation of the Tao Te Ching, but with a brilliant new twist: this version of the TTC is embedded in a teaching novel! Liao tells a story of Lao Tzu visiting a frontier province in ancient China, where he stayed with the Prince for nine nights, allowing the prince nine questions each night, the answers to which comprise the 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching. Each night of teaching is a chapter, followed by another chapter of the story in which the principles are illustrated in the lives of the characters in the story. It's a very easy read, and the story and its principles stick with you.

Waysun Liao is the author of The Tai Chi Classics, a book about Tai Chi that was written 30 years ago and has been translated into 7 or 8 languages. He has taught Tai Chi at his center in Chicago for most of those 30 years, but he did not write another book on the energy arts until this teaching novel.

Liao says that the Tao Te Ching is actually an instruction manual for attaining the Tao, but that it cannot be properly understood in the absence of the accompanying oral tradition, which he received from the Taoist sage he studied with as a teenager. Having received the oral transmission, Liao writes a story that includes the subtext of the teachings, and so fills the reader in on the real meaning of the Tao Te Ching. Regarding other translations, Liao says it's as if someone wrote a book about swimming without ever having been in the water. And then someone else, reading that book, rewrote the book, also never having been in the water. For over two thousand years then, the swimming book has been translated and retranslated by people who do not swim.

Okay, I don't know what the "real meaning" of the Tao Te Ching is. But I can tell you that reading this book got me to read many other translations to see in what ways Liao's "illuminated" translation differs. It has given me a context for understanding Tao and Te which has been standing up very well, not only for Taoist concepts, but also for understanding the underlying commonality of all spiritual traditions. Best of all, it has been a guiding and sustaining light in my continuing attempt to "follow the chi til it leads to the Tao."

I am intrigued by the idea that the accompanying oral tradition is the key required for deep understanding of the ancient text. John Bright Fey refers to this secret oral teaching as well. Understanding also seems to be state dependent. I discovered Fey's book, read some of it and was amazed at how clear and meaningful it was. Then, days later, trying to read the book again, I found myself astonished that I had bought such a meaningless book! That was when I began to get a clue that understanding these books somehow depends on the state of the reader. In some states, the author's meaning is clear and profound, and in others, the same text seems to be just gobbleygook! How do I spend more time in the state of understanding? How did I get there? How do I get back there? Having this experience has made me very interested in learning more about the oral tradition.

Be warned, this is not a cheap book. The regular version is $25 and the Delux Study Edition is $50! The Delux version includes a foreword, an interview with Liao, the complete translation of the TTC (separate from the one embedded in the text), and an in depth glossary of the important terms used by Lao Tzu. I waffled about getting the Delux edition for quite awhile, but totally recommend it for anyone seriously interested in the TTC.

 

[Taiji Bum]

I just started reading it! I should finish it by the end of the week. However it is starting out kinda slow. I'm kinda hoping it is like the Celestine Prophecy where the first 50 pages suck but then I couldn't put it down. I suppose when it starts to talk about alchemy is when I will get into it.

[cheya]

I just started reading it! I should finish it by the end of the week. However it is starting out kinda slow. I'm kinda hoping it is like the Celestine Prophecy where the first 50 pages suck but then I couldn't put it down. I suppose when it starts to talk about alchemy is when I will get into it.

 

It's not at all like the Celestine Prophecy, and, if you're looking for adventure/suspense, it's not that exciting. For me, what has been so gripping is the expansion of the meaning of the text of the TTC, and also the very simple, fable-like illustrations of TTC principles contained in the side story that parallels the embedded text. If you expect the side story to be exciting by modern standards, I'm afraid you'll be disappointed.

 

Let me know when you get through the fourth night, and I'll ask you one of my main questions about what the Lao Tzu is saying in TTC Chapter 28.

[steve]

I bought this book a while ago and haven't gotten around to reading it.

Maybe this will give me the motivation I need.

First, though, I've got to finish the book I'm currently reading called "What is the What" by David Eggers - an amazing biography about one of the "lost boys" of Sudan - gripping stuff!

[growant]

In regards to the oral tradition- I had a conversation with a hasidic (chabad) rabbi about the kabalah- He said that 50% of the kaballah is the written version and the other 50% of it is the oral, which is handed down from generation to generation. According to him, the oral tradition is the key to unlocking and understanding the written. This is why, he said, Madonna and all those following the current 'hip' Kaballah trend are being misled- they are only getting the written and not the oral because their teachers never received the oral tradition.

[Mal]

Anyone else reading this? Frustratingly it's not available at fishpond and I wanted something to read for the next 2 weeks but I'm doing up an amazon order and intrested in chasing it up if it's like :-

 

Seven Taoist Masters: A Folk Novel of China by Eva Wong

[rene]

bump - since it came up in the TTC subforum Ch 7 discussion. (-:

[Mal]

Dare I say that the TTC is not really my favorite book. While fun to read, as are fortune cookies , I do tend to find it a bit inaccessible. (Which is why I quite like Hu Xuehi's Revealing the TTC as it accentuates the taoist alchemy angle.)

 

So I must express my heartfelt thanks to the guys pushing along the TTC subforum and for cheya's review and comments finally leading me to purchase Nine Nights _/\_

 

I have only finished reading the 1st night and ....wow! The oral tradition question and answer format really lends an entirely new perspective to the TTC that I had not explored before.

 

if it's like :- Seven Taoist Masters: A Folk Novel of China by Eva Wong

 

It is like 7 Taoist Masters. A folk lore style tale about Taoist principals and methods. I'm finding the story quite enjoyable. Old master with a young student makes me recall Millman's Peaceful Warriors

 

While all things occur in the fullness of time I really wish I had read this book earlier. Master Liao wrote:

I especially wanted to write this book so that young people would have an opportunity to absorb the real meaning of Lao Tzu's words. Preferentially before other erroneous interpretations prejudiced their judgments.

<snip>

May you, the reader, discover or rediscover Lao Tzu for the first time. Enjoyment and Confusion await within. Enjoy being confused. Welcome to the world of the power of the Tao!

[cheya]

[Mal]