台北市大安區臥龍街 274 號 · 02-2732-4477The Association's archive holds 28 primer essays written for the general reader. Each entry below gives a one-line English overview; the full text is in Chinese.
Taoist Primers 道家常識
28 essays on philosophy, scripture, rites and the art of living — English overviews
Origins of Taoism 道教起源
How the teaching became a church: the Celestial Master community founded in 142 CE and its spread across China. (full text in Chinese)
Taoist Cosmogony 道教宇宙演化論How the universe unfolds by itself — a genesis without a creator. (full text in Chinese)
The Tao Follows Nature 道之自然The principle behind the faith's most famous verse: humanity follows earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao. (full text in Chinese)
Dao and De 道德Virtue is the Tao made visible in each thing — the two concepts that give the teaching its name. (full text in Chinese)
Baopuzi on Nourishing Life 抱朴子養生論One body is the image of a state: governing the self as a wise ruler governs a country. (full text in Chinese)
Taoism on Elder Care 道教對老人安養的看法A religion of reverence for age, on caring for a society that grows old. (full text in Chinese)
Methods of Cultivation 道教養生法Six families of practice: guided movement, breath work, visualization, diet and more. (full text in Chinese)
Theories of the Body 道教養生理論Yin-yang, the five phases, and knowledge won by looking inward. (full text in Chinese)
The Wellness Worldview 道教養生觀Treasure this one life: the primal breath that sustains all living things. (full text in Chinese)
The Study of Nourishing Life 道教養生學Outer and inner alchemy, breath, fasting and massage — the long pursuit of long life. (full text in Chinese)
Rites IV: Precept Law 道教禮儀——戒律Precepts as the law within the church: what they restrain and why. (full text in Chinese)
Rites III: Rules of Discipline 道教禮儀——教規The Five Precepts of Lord Lao and the graded ladder of discipline. (full text in Chinese)
Rites II: Liturgy 道教禮儀——教儀Doctrine, scripture, ritual and ethics as one complete cultural body. (full text in Chinese)
Rites I: Transmission 道教禮儀——傳承From ancient state sacrifice to an organized church with its own dioceses. (full text in Chinese)
Taoist Music 道教音樂概說Liturgical music inherited from ancient court rites, refined dynasty after dynasty. (full text in Chinese)
The Taoist Canon 淺談道教經典The Daozang: three caverns, four supplements, 5,485 volumes. (full text in Chinese)
The Heart of Taoist Belief 認識道教信仰中心A many-gods faith whose highest ideal is the perfected immortal. (full text in Chinese)
Buddhism and Taoism Compared 佛道二教之異同How the two teachings borrowed from each other, and where they part ways. (full text in Chinese)
Taoism: An Overview 道教概述China's indigenous religion and its mark on literature, art, science and society. (full text in Chinese)
The Lineage of the Teaching 道教宗源From the primal Nothing to the Three Treasure Lords of the Three Pure Realms. (full text in Chinese)
Taoism and Nature 道教與環境自然Heaven and earth live together with me, and all things and I are one. (full text in Chinese)
The Three Pure Ones and the Three Realms 三清三境Reading the birth of the cosmos through the highest trinity. (full text in Chinese)
Philosophy VI: The Gift to Chinese Culture 道家哲學——貢獻Why Chinese art is, at heart, Taoist art. (full text in Chinese)
Philosophy V: Historical Development 道家哲學——發展時期From the ancient hermits to Laozi and Zhuangzi, and beyond. (full text in Chinese)
Philosophy IV: The Key Thinkers 道家哲學——重要哲學家Five thousand words of the Daodejing, and the minds that followed. (full text in Chinese)
Philosophy III: Society 道家哲學——社會哲學Wisdom for living in any age: society as process, not purpose. (full text in Chinese)
Philosophy II: Self-Cultivation 道家哲學——功夫理論Freedom of mind through yielding, the fasting of the heart, sitting in forgetfulness. (full text in Chinese)
Philosophy I: The Worldview 道家哲學——世界觀The Tao as nature's own order — a free and living space for all things. (full text in Chinese)