Benjamin Hoff - The Tao of Pooh

Prijs: € 5.00
Verzendkosten: € 2.50 (b)

Bestelnummer: 09-0088

Beschrijving

This is two-way book: to explain Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh, and to explain Winnie-the-Pooh (not always an easy task itself) through Taoism.  
Taoism, more academically, is a religion indigenous to China, built upon teachings primarily of Lao-tzu, with significant influence from Buddha and K´ung Fu-tse.  
It is in the teachings of harmony and emptiness and being of Lao-tzu, however, that Taoism draws its meaning, believing that earth is a reflection of heaven, and that the world `is not a setter of traps but a teacher of valuable lessons.´  
 
As with many religions, this one took various guises: philosophic, monastic, structural, folk. But through them all, the imperceptible Tao, the essence of being, essentially undescribable, shapes the universe continually out of chaos, with a yin and yang alteration of perpetual transformation, in which nothing remains eternal save the Tao. 
 
This makes Pooh a perfect example and exemplar. `For the written character P´u, the typical Chinese dictionary will give a definition of ´natural, simple, plain, honest.´  
P´u is composed of two separate characters combined: the first, the ´radical´ or root-meaning one, is that for tree or wood; the second, the ´phonetic´ or sound-giving one, is the character for dense growth or thicket.´ 
 
Through semantic changes, perfectly in keeping with the Tao, we find that Pooh, or P´u, is actually a tree in the thicket, or a wood not cut, or finally, an Uncarved Block.  
And this, of course, is what pure being is. 
 
Pooh, in his journey through the Tao, with the Tao, of the Tao (it is a hard one to nail down, isn´t it?) encounters many.  
This includes Eeyore, the terminally morose, who represents Knowledge for the sake of Complaining about Something.  
It also includes Owl, the Western successor of the ´Confucianist Dedicated Scholar´, who believes he has all truth as his possession, and studies Knowledge for the Sake of Knowledge (even if it isn´t always the best knowledge).  
 
`You can´t help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn´t spell it right; but spelling isn´t everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn´t count.´ 
 
Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. 
Penguin Books (1982), 158 blz. 
Paperback. Kaft wat smoezelig, binnenwerk in zeer goede+ staat. 
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