Ming-Dao Deng

Eastern philosophy is a rather intricate subject that has many different viewpoints. This particular book couples well into that philosophy.

Everyday Tao – Living With Balance & Harmony by Deng Min-Dao is a very insightful book.

Split up into 15 different sections, Everyday Tao covers a variety of ways into which individuals are able to get in tune with the Tao. The 15 sections are: nature, silence, books, strategy, movement, skill, craft, conduct, moderation, devotion, perseverance, show more teaching, self, simplifying and union.

Using Chinese ideograms, which contain inherent stories therein, the author brings about much meaning showing the reader what each ideogram breaks into and what insights can be had.

The way the book is set up, each individual insight covering no more than a page, makes this the type of book that can be read straight through, or on a day-by-day basis. For me, the latter offered much enjoyment and meaning because I was able to digest and discern much of what the book provided and ponder it deeply therein without rushing.

Through and through, the book offers a no-nonsense approach into Taoist insights. As someone who’s relatively new to Eastern Philosophy and am open minded about it, there was much to appreciate, regardless if one is locked within a particular paradigm or not. This volume offers much value, and if you’re seeking more to read on Tao or Eastern Philosophy, do not hesitate – get this book. show less

Nothing can surpass reading the classical texts to understand Taoism. It's my opinion indeed that many Western books claiming to make such ancient Chinese philosophies accessible or relevant to our modern lifestyles are, far too often and sadly, grossly simplistic. This book (sadly too) falls into that trap. It omits a lot and is far too basic in its goal to catch too broad an audience. However...

However, its originality manages to make it somewhat enlightening. The fact is, the author show more focuses on some key words ('silence', 'Tao', 'prayer' etc.) by, first, displaying their Chinese ideograms and, then, describing such ideograms in using them as a way to give free rein to some thoughts and stories enabling to better understand their meaning and importance -from a Taoist perspective. We thus have the essential Chinese pictograms as basis for explanation, something otherwise impossible with translations using solely the Western alphabet.

All in all, then, here's an interesting take, enlightening somehow. Still, it could have been deeper and, above all, doesn't compensate for reading the classics. show less

This is my go-to book for reading before meditation. I've owned it longer than I've been married (21 years), and I had to replace my copy a few years ago because the old one was falling apart from use. All of which is meant to say, I love this book! I can't imagine how Ming-Dao Deng managed to include so much poetry, inspiration and wisdom in one small volume. I recommend it highly. Even though I've been turning to this book for many years, I continue to find fresh and relevant insights.

As expected, some of the entries in this book contain clear hints of personal bias. Every writing on the subject of the Tao must, inescapably, be the result of passing the apprehension of Tao through a personal filter. In some cases (e.g. Cleary's Tao Te Ching), this yields something so heavily slanted as to allow almost all value in the work to slide right off of it; in others (e.g. Stephenson's Tao Te Ching), the result is very subtle and yields one of the better Taoist works I've read.

365 show more Tao is a relatively unique approach to addressing the Tao, as a "daily devotional" reader, in that it is divided into far more discrete, stand-alone chunks than almost any other book format. Some of them I found actually contradictory with my own perception of the Tao, but they were exceedingly rare. Overall, I found it contemplative, inspiring, and interesting. I would recommend it with the same caveat that must apply to any other philosophical, contemplative work: it was written by a human. show less