The Dao of Nature & The Nature of Dao Podcast

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 co...

This episode began as a companion to “Xuan: Mystery at the Heart of the Dao.” Where that episode explored xuan as a quality of reality and a contemplative orientation, this one was intended to follow the compound word 幽玄, youxuan, from its earliest appearances in Chinese literature through its long journey to Japan, where it became yugen, one of the most celebrated aesthetic concepts in the worl...

This episode explores 玄 ( xuan ), a single Chinese character at the center of Daoist thought. Appearing in the opening lines of the Daodejing, xuan—most often translated as “dark,” “mysterious,” or “profound”—names not merely a feeling but a feature of reality: the quality of what exceeds ordinary knowing while remaining available to a different kind of awareness. Moving through the character’s e...

Where do thoughts come from? And how much should we trust them? Drawing on Daoist philosophy, the Dao De Jing's Valley Spirit (谷神), and the inner alchemy writings of Bai Yuchan, this post explores the dual nature of thought: its generative, creative power and its capacity to distort our perception of reality. Thoughts arise spontaneously, like life emerging from an empty valley, yet left unexami...

This post was spurred by a note from James Ford discussing a purported Rumi quote, “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” Many spiritual traditions speak of following a path. This is especially true of the teachings of Daoism as we follow “the Great Way.” Matching the Rumi saying, the Zhuangzi says, “A path is made by walking.” (道行之而成) This was also echoed by the Spanish poet Ant...

I originally wrote this last year, several months after my father died (the anniversary of his death just passed). What I didn’t know at the time was that my mother would also die about two months after writing this. It was a helluva year, much of it a blur, alternating between numbness, grief, and respites where I was engrossed in working on the manuscript for my next book. Living in the Twin Cit...

This article originally appeared in The Journal of Daoist Studies, Volume 17, 2024. The online version can be found here . Forest Bathing (Jap.: shinrin yoku 森林浴) is the practice of immersing oneself in nature expressly for its physical and psychological health benefits. The term was coined in Japan in 1982 by Tomohide Akiyama 秋山智英,, then Director General of the Ministry of Agriculture, For...

Note: This essay was written before the pandemic. The cabin fever it talks about became even more pronounced for many of us during the two years of lock downs, and various levels of social distancing, especially if we live in urban environments. Here’s hoping we all have many more opportunities to experience and remember our deep connection with nature in the coming years. It was also written long...

Qiu Chuji, also known by his Daoist name Qiu Changchun is considered the founder of the Longmen (Dragon Gate) lineage of Daoism. He was the youngest of the group of disciples of Wang Chongyang known as the “Seven Perfected”. There are many interesting stories about Qiu, from his traveling for three years to visit Genghis Khan in the Hindu Kush, to his practice of carrying a stone up the mountain l...

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” So ends Albert Camus’ famous essay, The Myth of Sisyphus . Camus sees the myth of Sisyphus as a parable about the absurdity of life and how even in the face of drudgery we must all decide that life is worth living and carry on. I agree with Camus on this point, yet we might ask, how can he be happy? Is there a mechanism or a practice through which this happiness...

Epidsode 2 “One must imagine Sisyphus happy.” So ends Albert Camus’ famous essay, The Myth of Sisyphus . Camus sees the myth of Sisyphus as a parable about the absurdity of life and how even in the face of drudgery we must all decide that life is worth living and carry on. I agree with Camus on this point, yet we might ask, how can he be happy? Is there a mechanism or a practice through which this...

This is the audio version of a post on substack. The full piece is in the show notes below. Hey folks, I’m going to try to get this publication up and running. I’ll mainly be writing about the place where I find myself, at the intersection of Daoism and Forest Therapy. I’ll talk about each separately as well as where they overlap and influence each other. That said, the state of the world being wh...