Daodejing: The Oral Tradition

2024 IPPY Bronze Medal Winner
This book is a new translation (by Dr. Alan Peatfield) of the most important and most-read book on Eastern philosophy and spirituality, the Daodejing. For the first time, a Daoist lineage holder, Master Bruce Frantzis, shares the oral teachings of the Daoist Water tradition which accompany and underpin Laozi's multi-layered wisdom text written twenty-five hundred years ago. That tradition is not literary nor philosophical; it is fundamentally meditative and spiritual.

The oral tradition of Daoism holds that the Daodejing was created by a single, powerful mind at work in its chapters, weaving together themes as one, unified vision, one Teaching. Soon you will read the story of Liu Hung Chieh, the modern Daoist sage whose teachings are the ultimate source of what is written in this book. You will learn how he came to pass on these unique oral teachings about Daoism to a Westerner, who became his disciple and inheritor, Bruce Kumar Frantzis.

The meditative and spiritual nature of the Commentary presented is to be emphasized. The authors do not claim that it is definitive, the last word on the Daodejing. It is the spiritual and meditative teaching that was passed on to Bruce orally by the Sage Liu Hung Chieh, with the suggestion that he bring this tradition to the West. The material here comes from inside the Daoist spiritual tradition and, therefore, contains the distilled essence of Bruce’s learning, practice, and teaching since Liu’s death in 1986.

Inside this book you will find some things which have never been revealed before in Western writings about Daoism, as the teachings would only be passed on from teacher to student, personally – spoken, not written, and often in secret. When Liu Hung Chieh taught Bruce, he said, “These are the words.” Liu then said the words in Chinese with vibrations, transmissions, behind them that penetrated Bruce to his core. He continued, “This is what they mean.” With all Daoist or ancient texts, trying to understand the meaning from the words alone is exceptionally difficult. Finally, Liu explained, demonstrated, and transmitted: “This is how to do what is proposed.” This is the basis for qi arts, such as Taijiquan, qigong, and yoga and Dissolving meditation practices -- all of which serve to train a student in how to genuinely and unambiguously embody what is proposed in the Daodejing in body, mind, and spirit.

Reading this Commentary is designed to give readers an experience of growth and maturity. This is a practical book about how to have a better experience of living on this Earth with explanations of profound universal principles from a true Daoist master to help the reader achieve this end. It is also a book on spirituality, which shows a path to enlightenment for those who have the commitment and resolve to seek and discover their essence (Seventh Energy Body of Individuality), and ultimately open to The Way.