Other News

Summer School

Beijing Normal University, July 9-13, 2017

As part of their annual teaching program, the School of Philosophy at Beijing Normal University in conjunction with the Confucius China Studies Program, organized "A Journey into Chinese Thought and Modern Civilization" with a core focus on Daoism. Over two weeks, world-renowned scholars presented lectures on Daoist thought and cultivation, focusing particularly on Zhuangzi. Presenters included Liu Xiaogan, Qiang Yu, Li Yafei, Zhang Weiwen, and Thomas Michael of BNU, as well as invited guest lecturers, Friederike Assandri, Livia Kohn, Mark Csikszentmihalyi, and Dennis Schilling. About fifty students from fifteen different countries attended—all sponsored and supported by the Confucius Institute—learning a great deal about Chinese thought and culture while making new friends and expanding their horizons. For more, see http://philsummer.bnu.edu.cn/.

Daoist Center in France

The French Daoist Association, under the directorship of Karine Martin, has opened its new Daoist center, Wuming gong, near Montlucon in central France. They hold regular seminars, services, and workshops. For more details, see http://francedao.blogspot.com

—Karine Martin

New Commentary Edition

In spring 2018, the boutique publishing house Shuaizhen shuzhai 率真书 斋, located in a small village in the hills outside Beijing, will reissue a little-known commentary on the Daodejing, called Daodejing jiangyi 道德 经讲义. This commentary was written by the Qing Longmen Daoist and government archivist, Song Longyuan 宋龙渊 and presented as a gift to the Kangxi Emperor. It offers line-by-line, character-by-character explanations of Laozi's text from the perspective of an erudite Quanzhen cultivator. The edition is being printed in cooperation with the Three Purities Palace 三清宫 in Jilin Province, led by abbess Liu Yuanhui 刘圆慧, a 19th generation nun, also of the Longmen lineage. For more, see http://shop.kongfz.com/48758/.

—Mattias Daly

Daoist Blog

WWW.STEPHENJONES.BLOG is a substantial site that complements the book and film by Stephen Jones on the Li family Daoists in north Shanxi, including reflections on various related themes as well as relevant updates. Under the heading "Local Ritual," it also contains a series of lengthy article on local Daoist ritual traditions around north Shanxi, Hebei, and Shaanxi. They are based on previous work, but elaborated here with maps and many color photos. The photos and playlist are illuminating in themselves.

—Stephen Jones

Workshop with Master Meng

The U.S. Taoist Association is honored to announce that Master Meng Zhilling 孟至岭, Vice President of the Chinese Daoist Association, will be returning in July 2018 to teach a 4-day seminar on Daoist meditation and wisdom in New York City. Open to all inspired to learn about Daoism, it addresses especially those with a specific interest in developing, or deepening, their practice. Master Meng is a world-renonwned expert about Daoism and internal cultivation. He is also president of the largest Daoist College in China. For more details and pricing, please email David Hessler (dhessler@mka.org).

—David Hessler