Episode Eleven: Never Separate From This

This essay was unplanned. The series began as two pieces, one on 玄 (xuan) as the mystery at the heart of Daoist thought, and one tracing the compound 幽玄 (youxuan) on its journey from Chinese philosophy and aesthetics to Japan, where it became the celebrated concept of yugen. That second essay ended with a line from Liu Yiming’s commentary on the Huangting Jing (Yellow Court Scripture) that I couldn’t quite leave behind, so here we are with part three. That said, I should probably just add the caveat here that many if not all of my future posts will probably form a meandering path, one footstep leading to the next, each essay leading to the next, a process that will continue indefinitely. So, is it really part three of three? Who knows?

Here’s a link for my forthcoming book from Shambhala Publications mentioned in the episode. It’s available everywhere for preorder now. An Introduction to Daoism: A Practice Guide for Living the Way

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