Pocket Taoist Wisdom

This compact collection of Taoism's greatest masterpieces introduces its most fundamental teachings and reveals the essential spirit of Tao.

From the time of its earliest sages in prehistoric China, Taoists have looked to the underlying Way of all things (the Tao) as the essential guide to life. For them, the patterns of nature revealed the answers to their deepest spiritual questions and provided the inspiration for their unique teachings. Over the centuries, Taoism has blossomed into a profound tradition with a variety of forms—all united by a single, core philosophy of radical simplicity and natural living. Today, Taoism is most widely known through the Tao-te Ching, yet its corpus of literature is vast—ranging from philosophical dialogues and essays to astonishing fables, legends, proverbs, and more. This compact collection of Taoism’s greatest masterpieces introduces its most fundamental teachings and reveals the essential spirit of Tao.

This book was previously published under the title The Taoism Reader.

This volume includes:
Tao-te Ching: The foundational source of Taoist thought by the legendary Lao Tzu
Chuang-tzu: Philosophical dialogues from one of Taoism's most famous sages
Huai-nan-tzu: Teachings from the time of the Han dynasty on affairs of state, natural science, and Taoist psychology
Wen-tzu: Records of further sayings by Lao Tzu on the art of living
Tales of Inner Meaning: Fables, stories, and jokes from the Lieh-tzu and others on the subtleties of Taoist philosophy
Sayings of Ancestor Lu: Teachings from Lu Yen, a seminal figure in the founding of the Complete Reality school of Taoism and master synthesizer of China's classic spiritual traditions


This book is part of the Shambhala Pocket Library series.

The Shambhala Pocket Library is a collection of short, portable teachings from notable figures across religious traditions and classic texts. The covers in this series are rendered by Colorado artist Robert Spellman. The books in this collection distill the wisdom and heart of the work Shambhala Publications has published over 50 years into a compact format that is collectible, reader-friendly, and applicable to everyday life.

THOMAS CLEARY is the translator of over fifty volumes of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Islamic texts from Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Pali, and Arabic.