Taoism

by Ken Cohen

One of the West's few ordained Taoist priests introduces you to this ancient philosophy for effortless living on Taoism: Essential Teachings of the Way and Its Power. In easy-to-follow language, Ken Cohen reveals Lao Tzu's vast spiritual legacy, including: origins, philosophy, and religion; keys to ethical living, inner silence, and simplicity; Taoist meditations, prayers, and rituals, plus teachings on diet, poetry, feng shui, dream yoga; and much more.

Genres: Audiobook, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Taoism, Religion

Audio CD

First published December 17, 1999

Reviews

[Tom Walsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good History of The Tao.

Cohen does a good job of laying out the relationship of The Tao to Buddhism & Confucianism in the early pages.

Once he begins teaching a Course in the more obscure teachings of Taoism Rituals and Practices I became less interested. My devotion to The Tao is based on its Philosophy, not its Science, Medicine or Magic so I can only give this book Three Stars. ***

[Juan Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading the books of all religions, known to some of their followers and have practiced some; those which I like most are Taoism and Buddhism.

Taoism is based on return to a simple life, in touch with nature, animals, trees. Three precepts are important: charity (giving to others), live a simple life (not need much) and not try to be number one (be humble).

An excellent book that summarizes Taoism; which not only speaks of philosophy, but shows some forms of meditation, medicine, examples of poetry, etc.

[Serge Larose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this book as I took my daily walks after work. It was eye opening to get to know more about Taoism and didn't really know it was interwoven with Buddhism and Confucianism. There were meditation sections which were great and very interesting points, such as meditations that would in so many words replace acupuncture. If you're curious about Taoism and how it relates to Buddhism or other religion, I recommend listening to this book. I also felt the narrator had the perfect rhythm and voice for this audiobook.

[Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

not for me.

[Lartemis · Rating 4 out of 5]

First half of audiobook particularly meaningful.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great starting point for learning a broad overview of Taoism. It gives just enough information to start incorporating the practices with opportunities to practice new skills.

[Crysana Copland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the most engaging lecturer, but he laid out the important basic principles of Taoism well.

[Mrs Reddy Mallender-Katzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

MEDITATION IDMS DEFINITELY KENS COHENS STRONG POINT .... Book Gets better then fails a little near the end but ill definitely read it again !

[Jeremy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Everything you never wanted to know about the religion that has built up around philosophical Taoism. The latter is interesting, the former just seems like superstition to a Western mind, even one as open as mine. Here’s an example, from which you can make up your own mind: hanging wind chimes made of wood outside your house is bad for your health and prosperity because wind chimes always sound like metal, even if they are made of wood, and metal cuts wood, so this creates a conflict which is troublesome for you and your home. Just for fun, here’s another: if your bathroom is at the end of a long hallway, this is bad because your qi will be literally “drained,” but you can always place an eight-sided mirror on a red surface to protect this from happening.

These examples derive from a complicated system of correspondences, based primarily on the 5 elements and including body organs, cardinal directions, seasons, flavors and colors. In the creation cycle of generating interactions, wood creates fire, fire creates earth, earth creates metal, metal creates water, and water creates wood. In the destruction cycle of overcoming interactions, wood destroys earth, earth destroys water, water destroys fire, fire destroys metal, and metal destroys wood. Wood is associated with the yin liver and yang gallbladder, fire with the yin heart and yang small intestine, earth with the yin spleen and yang stomach, metal with the yin lung and yang large intestine, and water with the yin kidney and yang bladder. Are you tired yet? Don’t worry, there’s plenty more where that came from! https://www.thoughtco.com/the-taoist-...

Now for the core of philosophical Taoism, which is much more interesting: the core Taoist virtues that are to be lived naturally by seeking inner truth, “not by rigidly following rules of conduct,” are respect, humility, generosity, kindness, and simplicity.


Potent Quotables:

Ancient Taoists were famous for their practice of grain avoidance. They believed that grains weaken qi. In modern terms, we could say that excess carbohydrates can cause insulin-resistant, energy-starved cells.

[Punam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for introduction to Taoism. Some great meditations within the book (listened to this as audiobook). Wish there was a way to either skip the meditations or go to them at the end.
WIll be reading more books from Ken Cohen after this, especially found him inspiring re: feng shui.

[Jobie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is really more of a read lecture. It started off well bit fell short as it didn't go as deep as I would have liked.

[Roger Morris · Rating 3 out of 5]

The unsubstantiated claims of Qi Gong and Feng Shui were hard to swallow. One star at least for the author's willingness to sing Taoist mantras in Chinese on the audio recording.