The book Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest is referred as a piece written in traditional Chinese-style wuxia(heroic) format. The creator of the story is called Albert A. Dalia. He holds two master degrees and a Ph.D. in Chinese history and religion. In an interview Dalia opens up about his inspiration for Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest. He expresses fatigue over the “formal historical study as a path to understand ‘reality” (Thinkmap, Inc.). In the interview he talks about how he would visit Buddhist “monasteries” in the “countryside” of Taiwan. He does not go into details, but he states that he made “connections” with many “wonderful teachers”, which leads me to believe that he was a sort of student under them. The information gained from formal and informal study is what inspired him to write Dream of the Dragon Pool: A Daoist Quest. The …show more content…
However, the numerous amount interpretations of these have added to the complexity of the story. If one views the Divine as being of god or the Supreme Being than The River Goddess in Dream of the Dragon Pool is the Divine. The River Goddess synchronizes with the river to create harmony. She however is not the only Devine being according to this idea. The Sage Lords of Upper Heaven and the Dipper, who are nine-star lords, are also divine beings. They help guide humanity, and nature. Another way a person could view the divine is a thing or being that rules over all. If that is the philosophy the Dao is the Divine. The dao or the way is a force that pushes everything to do what is in its nature. In both cases the divine gets its source of power and being from nature. Which is why the divine are so powerful, and why it drives all beings to nature. Nature then, is not only the physical world, but also the underlining characteristics of all beings. There is no source of nature because nature just is. It is the original and as such it needs no source other than
Although there is a enormous amount of literature involved with Daoism, the Daoist canon itself contains 1,120 volumes (Coogan 241), there are two texts that are the heart and soul of Daoism; the Tao Teh Ching and the Zhuangzi. The Tao Teh Ching was legendarily written by Lao Tzu himself and is the basis for much of what Daoists believe. With just over five thousand Chinese characters, the Tao Teh Ching addresses confusing questions with confusing answers, providing advice that is at once practical and impractical. Although the debate rages over whether it is a collection of works from separate authors or a true compilation of the potentially real Lao Tzu, the Tao Teh Ching's philosophies on life and the Dao are remarkable. They are, but they aren't. It is, but it isn't. Full of sagacity and wisdom, the Tao Teh Ching first addresses the issue of the Dao and its place as a core belief among Daoists.