French Bulldog Puppy—The Taoist Body

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One year ago on Round and Square (10 February 2012)—Flowers Bloom: Bloom's Republic II

[a] French Musings PD

I don't know who you are, 
but I will find you...[1]

...and tell you that I just finished reading the foreword to Kristofer Schipper's The Taoist Body. It's not just a book about Daoism/Taoism. It is the result of a kind of ethnographic immersion that is absolutely stunning. 

Oh, and Schipper is my countryman. He is French (like moi)...sort of. He is actually Dutch, but pursued his entire education in France. Anyone who has run the École pratique des hautes études is "French enough" for me, though.

[b] Mastery RF

He studied the history of Chinese religions with two giants of "sinology"—Max Kaltenmark and Rolf Stein (both of whom were students of the great Marcel Granet). The further list of greats with whom he studied is equally astounding (Jacques Gernet, and Paul Demiéville are two more).

And then he did something very, very different. He went to Taiwan...(no that's not it)...

...and he studied intensely to master the intricacies of the Daoist canon (and, no, that's not exactly it, either).

And four years later, in 1968, he was ordained as a Daoist priest by Zhang Enbu, the sixty-third Celestial Master of the Zhang Daoling sect.

Whoa! That's intense. That's fieldwork.

I can't wait to read the book now.

      [1] I like Liam's opening, and he gave me a year's supply of biscuits to use it for the rest of the month.

[c] Contemplative RF

[Originally posted on May 10, 2014]