Rating: 
Summary: Excellently written and life transforming too!
Review: 1. Beware anyone seeking to teach you the One Great Secret.
2. The One Great Secret of this book is that it's a nice fantasy.
3. Nice fantasies masquerading as truth are still...
4. Nice fantasies, but hardly...5. Truth.
Rating:
Summary: Salt of the earth
Review: A wonderful book which works on many levels. It is a lot of fun to read. I hope there is another book coming at some point in the future. Saihung is still alive, so the interior adventures and private battles surely continue. It reminded me of many books, not so much in detail as tone
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (the mental dialog)
The Teachings of Don Juan A Yaqui Way of Knowledge ( the fascination with masters of non-being, including immortals)
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (the focus on escaping rebirth)
The Lord of the Rings (the 400 pages of battles, but the main character remains uncertain of his spiritual destiny)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written By Himself (another autobiography of a fighter) On the subject matter of the book itself, a quote from Lynn's translation of Wang Bi's interpretation of the I Ching seems appropriate
"At the time when Pei Hui was serving as Director of the Ministry of Personnel, Wag Bi, who then had not yet [reached the age of 20], went to pay him a visit. As soon as Pei saw him, he knew this was an extraordinary person, so he asked him, "nonbeing [wu] is, in truth, what the myriad things depend on for existence, yet [Confucius] was unwilling to talk about it, while Master Lao expounded upon it endlessly. Why is that? Wang Bi replied "[Confucius] embodied nonbeing, so he also knew it could not be explained in words. Thus he did not talk about it. Master Lao, by contrast, operated on the level of being [you]. This is why he constantly discussed nonbeing; he had to, for what he said about it always fell short." So, there you have the paradox. If one met a master of nonbeing and the master wished to teach you, would he talk about non-being? Put another way, what is the difference between destiny and fate? If one met a master of fate, and the master wished to teach you, would he talk about your destiny?
Rating:
Summary: Salt of the earth
Review: A wonderful book which works on many levels. It is a lot of fun to read. I hope there is another book coming at some point in the future. Saihung is still alive, so the interior adventures and private battles surely continue. It reminded me of many books, not so much in detail as tone
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance (the mental dialog)
The Teachings of Don Juan A Yaqui Way of Knowledge ( the fascination with masters of non-being, including immortals)
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (the focus on escaping rebirth)
The Lord of the Rings (the 400 pages of battles, but the main character remains uncertain of his spiritual destiny)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written By Himself (another autobiography of a fighter) On the subject matter of the book itself, a quote from Lynn's translation of Wang Bi's interpretation of the I Ching seems appropriate
"At the time when Pei Hui was serving as Director of the Ministry of Personnel, Wag Bi, who then had not yet [reached the age of 20], went to pay him a visit. As soon as Pei saw him, he knew this was an extraordinary person, so he asked him, "nonbeing [wu] is, in truth, what the myriad things depend on for existence, yet [Confucius] was unwilling to talk about it, while Master Lao expounded upon it endlessly. Why is that? Wang Bi replied "[Confucius] embodied nonbeing, so he also knew it could not be explained in words. Thus he did not talk about it. Master Lao, by contrast, operated on the level of being [you]. This is why he constantly discussed nonbeing; he had to, for what he said about it always fell short." So, there you have the paradox. If one met a master of nonbeing and the master wished to teach you, would he talk about non-being? Put another way, what is the difference between destiny and fate? If one met a master of fate, and the master wished to teach you, would he talk about your destiny?
Rating:
Summary: A spiritual adventure culminating in self-assessment!
Review: An exceptional book which I have read twice and would verymuch like to read again. The book outlines the biographical history of Mr. Kwan. Selected at an early age, somewhat reluctantly, to begin study with a Taoist Grandmaster, we follow the developement of the young boy from a warrior clan family. His rejection of past to become a renunciate studying The Way. Difficulty, uncertainty and self-doubt must be overcome. The way cannot be learned but must be experienced. Mr. Kwan's experiences take him from esoteric battles of mind and spirit, to combat martial arts, war and death. All are part of The Way. We follow the magical, and often sad, life of old China, to its death at the hands of commercialism. The death of traditional Taoism but not of Tao. Mr. Kwan is taught that in order to reach the highest levels of enlightenment and to escape the eternal wheel of death and reincarnation one must fulfill one's destiny. First, however, one must find out what one's destiny is. Mr. Kwan has to seek his destiny not on Mt. Haushan, not in China, but in the West, dealing with all of the upheaval, confusion and prejudice inorder to achieve the ultimate human goal. This book is well written and prompts the reader to undergo a serious amount of self-assessment.
Rating: 
Summary: Great intro book!
Review: I love this book because it is written as the story of a boy who grows up learing about Taoism so you learn many of the basic ideas, but it's not boring like a textbook. If you are interested in Taoism but find textbooks dull, absolutely read this!!!
Rating:
Summary: A book to read and reread many times...
Review: I read Deng Ming Dao's "Chronicles of Tao" many years ago under it's original form of 3 different books. Because of the way my life was at that time, I found it to be a wonderful adventure story. Deng Ming Dao is a master story teller and Kwan Saihung is a facinating subject. Later, after a major spiritual awakening, I reread it and found something deeper: the story of a man's spiritual journey through the practice of Taoism. Later still, I discovered Tai Chi and Qigong and upon another reading of "Chronicles of Tao", I found a lot of information about Taoist Qigong and health practices that I had missed in previous readings. Then one day I saw an ad in "QI" Magazine that Master Kwan Saihung was giving a seminar on Taoist Health Practices in St. Paul, Minnesota. I was literally on a plane bound for St. Paul 2 weeks later to meet this "Wandering Taoist". That first seminar was the first of many lessons with Master Kwan who is alive and well and still teaching in New England. He is the Master teacher I was searching for for many years and Deng Ming Tao's excellent book, "Chronicles of Tao" led me to my Master. Which brings to mind an old Chinese saying, "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear." Marilynn Seits jazznow@shadow.net
Rating:
Summary: An epic adventure and inspiration
Review: I read the books that were condensed into this book several years ago and it changed my life. My father is a minister so the religious anecdotes were very interesting. The martial arts discussions were fascinating. The discussions regarding meditation, inspirational. The historical facts englightening (how could the communist chinese destroy so much of their own culture???). It's got bad guys/gals and good guys/gals. Why hasn't someone turned this into a movie??? Are you listening, Mr. Spielberg???
Rating:
Summary: incredible book
Review: Sadly, this book seems to be an attempt to create a real-life character based from what is obviously fiction. Eventhough the book reads very well, those seeking true historical facts about the life of Taoists should look elsewhere. I recommend looking toward some of the material written by any numbers of scholars specializing in Taoism (Livia Kohn, Michael Saso, etc.). This book is nonsense!
Rating:
Summary: Front row seat to the best Taoist story in town
Review: Taoism is one of those subjects that seems to become more difficult to grasp the more you study it. While there are many good academic, philosophical, and religious books on the subject, there is no substitute for actually applying Taoism to your own life. But if there was a book that came close to being such a substitute, it would be something like /Chronicles of Tao/. This beautifully written book follows the life of Kwan Saihung, from his childhood beginnings with his rich and powerful family, to his dabbling and eventual immersion in Taoism. Deng Ming-Dao weaves the story in an expert fashion, and everything flows rather smoothly. This book is like a river, zigging and zagging through the events of Saihung's life. Every now and then, while following Saihung and his exploration of what it means to be a Taoist, the reader catches brief glimpses of the backdrop of events in China, such as the invasion by Japan. These tidbits provide good cultural background and are seamlessly woven into the story. There are, of course, elements of the mystical and magical in this book. These add flavor to the story, and remind us that here is more to Taoism than sitting around and pondering riddles and the Yin-Yang symbol. Even if you don't believe that the Grand Master could truly light sticks of incense across the room simply with a hand gesture, you will be too busy enjoying the rest of /Chronicles/ to even care. The long and short of it is that this is one of the best Taoism-related books I've ever read. And even if you're not all that interested in Eastern thought, there is much to enjoy here - after all, the story is a delight to read regardless of your philosophical or religious views. Short of hopping the next plane to China and secluding yourself in a cave or temple, this is a great way to get a taste for living, breathing Taoism.
Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC BOOK!
Review: This is a phenomenal book for all who are interested in martial arts or eastern philosophy. The Author pulls you along with excellent character developement as well as detailed descriptions of everything which creates for the reader a personal world in which to learn the tao vicariously through the main character. The main characters path to enlightenment is marked by both his worldly experiences as well as his structured meditation practices. You follow the main character Saihung from his furious martial arts battles to his peacefull meditation. I would recommend this book for any who would like to learn more about the tao and just those who would like to read a great book about mysterious China.
|
