Rating: 
Summary: Practical and Inspiring Guide to Taoism
Review: This is a fascinating book that I enjoyed very much. This book's format makes it very interesting and motivating. Each page (one for each day of the year) starts with a Chinese character in beautiful calligraphic script. The English meaning of this character is given, as well as a verse in easy-to-read English providing more insight about the inner meaning of that character and the Chinese way of thinking. Below this, a few paragraphs of prose provide additional food for thought surrounding the theme of that day. I found the writing style of Deng Mind-Dao very interesting and inspiring. The topics chosen were important and relevant to one's daily life. I found the best way to use "365 Tao" for me is to read a page in the bathroom each morning. The readings stimulated my thoughts and ideas for the whole day. Often I would practice yoga afterwards. Overall it is a nice book, and I would readily buy any other book by Deng Ming-Dao.
Rating:
Summary: Thought for the Day
Review: This paradigm ("now here's today's lesson") has of course been done to death, but I've found no better example of the genre than this one. (re)Reading today's (August 12) meditation: "For a true master, Sitting on a throne Is no different than Sitting on dirt" (224 -- "Indifference") I was moved to check out what other Amazon readers thought about this minor masterpiece. I was pleased -- but not surprised -- to see that it is generally getting the tribute it deserves. Ming-Dao repeats this same format (a one-word concept, accompanied by an elegant Chinese calligraphy for that concept and an aphoristic synopsis of it, followed by a meditation on it) in his _Everyday_Tao_ (also highly recommended), but I find that I really need the discipline of "today's lesson" to keep me centered in the ideas he so eloquently presents.
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