With the growing popularity of t'ai chi, chi kung and Chinese
meditative arts, and the confusing plethora of books and handbooks on t'ai
chi and chi kung sprouting everywhere you turn, we would to remind you of
some of the classical works by a small crew of dedicated old hands that
have had a major impact on western thought.
Please e-mail to us any recommendations that you have of any titles that we haven't mentioned. We certainly don't claim to know it all, but after digging and scraping for twenty years, we are certain that we know what we like:
A. T'ai Chi Ch'uan
T'ai Chi Ch'uan Ta Wen (Questions and Answers on T'ai Chi Ch'uan) by Chen Wei-Ming (1929), translated by Benjamin Lo and Robert W. Smith. (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1985)
T'ai Chi Ch'uan, A Simplified Method of Calisthenics for Health and Self Defense (Berkeley: North Atlantic Press, 1981)
T'ai Chi ch'uan, the Supreme Ultimate Exercise for Health, Sport and Self-Defense, by Cheng Man-Ching and Robert W. Smith (Rutland, VT: Charles Tuttle & Co.)
Cheng Tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan, by Cheng Man-ching (Berkeley: North Atlantic Press, 1985)The Essence of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, the Literary Tradition, by Benjamin Lo and Martin Inn, (Berkeley: North Atlantic Press, 1985)
T'ai Chi - Ten minutes To Health, Chia Siew Pang, Goh Ewe Hock (Sebastopol, CA: CRCS Publications) -- (*Best illustrated manual teaching the Yang Short Form.)
The Tao of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, by Jou Tsung Hwa, (Rutland, Vt: Charles E. Tuttle Co.)
There Are No Secrets - Professor Cheng Man-ching and His T'ai Chi Ch'uan, by Wolfe Lowenthal (Berkeley: North Atlantic Books, 1991)
T'ai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions, by Douglas Wile (Sweet Chi Press, New York)
Asian Fighting Arts, by Robert W. Smith and Don Draeger (excellent history reference, a collectors item)
Cheng Man-Ching's Advanced T'ai-Chi Form Instructions, by Douglas Wile (New York: Sweet Chi Press, 1985)
B. Chi Kung and Meditation
The Art of Chi Kung, Making the Most of Your Vital Energy, by Won Kiew Kit (Shaftsbury, Dorset, Rockport, MA, Brisbane, Queensland: Element Books ltd., 1993)
Chinese Qigong Therapy, compiled by Zhang Mingwu, Sun xingyuan, translated by Yang Entang and Yao Xiuqing (Jinan, China: Shandong Science and Technology Press, 1985)
Oriental Breathing Therapy, by Takashi Nakamura (Tokyo: Japan Publications, Inc., 1981)
Qigong Essentials For Health Promotion, by Jao Guorui, translated by Jiao Tielan (Beijing: China Reconstructs Press)
Qi Gong Therapy, by Tzu Kuo Shih (Barrytown, NY: Station Hill Press)
The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated by Thomas Cleary (New York: HarperCollins, 1991)
The Secret of the Golden Flower, translated by Richard Wilhelm (Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Brace and Jovanovich, 1962)
***Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, by W.Y. Evans-Wentz (Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1936) -- the bible of high meditative philosophy.
Tao and Longevity, by Huai-Chin Nan, translated by Wen Kuan Chu, Ph.D. (New York: Samuel Weiser and Co., 1984)
Taoist Meditation and Longevity Techniques, edited by Livia Kohn (Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michgan Press, 1989)
The Way of Energy, Mastering the Chinese Art of Internal Strength with Chi Kung Exercise, by Master Lam Kam Chuen (New York, London, Toronto: Simon & Shuster, 1991)
Books #1 and #2 are classic philosophical treatises with instructions on chi-kung. Books 3-8 are excellent manuals on notable sytems of chi-kung.
C. Taoism:
Taoist Body, by Kristofer Schipper, translated by Karen C. Duval (UC Berkeley Press, 1982)
The Way of Lao Tzu, by Chan Wing-tsit (Indianapolis and New York, 1963)
Taoism and Chinese Religion, by Henri Maspero, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981)
Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, translated by D.C. Lau (Middlesex, UK: Penguin Books, 1963)
Lao Tzu Te-Tao Ching, A new Translation Based on the Recently Discovered Ma-wang-tui Texts, by Robert G. Henricks (New York: Random House, 1989)
Sun Tzu's The Art of Warfare, The First English Translation Incorporating the Recently Discovered Yin-chueh-shan Texts, by Roger Ames (New York: Random House, 1993)
The Way to Life, at the Heart of the Tao Te Ching, by Benjamin Hoff (New York: Weatherhill, 1981)
Ch'i, A Neo-Taoist Approach to Life, by R.G.H. Sui (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1974)
The Inner Teachings of Taoism, by Chang Po-tuan, translated by Thomas Leary (Boston and London: Shambala, 1986)
The Wandering Taoist, by Deng Ming-Dao (Harper & Row)
The Secret and the Sublime, by John Blofeld
D. Ch'an (Zen) Buddhism
The Platform Sutra of Hui Neng, translated by Wing Tsit Chan (New York: St. John's Univ. Press, 1963).
The Zen Teaching of Huang Po On the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Blofeld (New York: Grove Press, 1953)
Zen Flesh, Zen Bones, compiled by Paul Reps (Rutland and Tokyo: Tuttle Co., 1957)
The Way of Zen by Alan Watts (New York: Random House, 1957)
Mud and Water, A collection of Talks by the Zen Master Bassui, translated by Arthur Braverman (San Francisco: North Point Press, 1989)
The Sword of Wisdom, Lectures on the Song of Enlightenment, by Ch'an Master Sheng-yen (New York: Dharma Drum Publications, 1990).
Ch'an and Zen Teaching, Second Series, edited and translated by Lu K'uan Yu (Berkeley: Shambala, 1971)
Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics, R.H. Blyth, (Tokyo: Hokuseido Press, 1942).