- Mantak Chia
Mantak Chia is an author, teacher and self-described healer. He is known for his books and teachings on Taoism, qigong and Taoist sexuality. Mantak Chia is a controversial figure in Taoism, alternately praised for public disclosure of long-held secrets and condemned for idiosyncrasies such as giving undue weight to sexual practices and lore. His wife Maneewan Chia is the co-author of many of his books. - Laozi
Laozi (also Lao Tse, Laotze, Lao Zi, and other variations) was a philosopher of ancient China and an important figure in Taoism (also called Daoism). "Laozi" literally means "Old Master" and is generally considered an honorific. According to Chinese tradition, Laozi lived in the 6th century BC. Many historians contend that Laozi actually lived in the 4th century BC, concurrent with the Hundred Schools of Thought and Warring States Period, … - Zhuangzi
Zhuangzi (Traditional: 莊子; Simplified: 庄子, Pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ, Wade-Giles: Chuang Tzŭ, "lit". "Master Zhuang") was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BCE during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of Chinese thought. His name is sometimes spelled Chuang Tsu, Chuang Tzu, Zhuang Tze, or Chuang Tse. - Sun Tzu
Sun Tzu was the author of "The Art of War", an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. He is also one of the earliest realists in international relations theory. The name "Sun Tzu" ("Master Sun") is an honorific title bestowed upon Sun Wu (孫武; Sūn Wǔ), the author's name. The character "wu", meaning "military", is the same as the character in "wu shu", or martial art. - Alan Watts
Alan Wilson Watts (January 6, 1915 - November 16, 1973) was a philosopher, writer, speaker, and expert in comparative religion. He was best known as an interpreter and popularizer of Asian philosophies for a Western audience. He wrote more than twenty-five books and numerous articles on subjects such as personal identity, the true nature of reality, consciousness, and the pursuit of happiness, … - Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary (b. 1949) is a prolific, and somewhat reclusive, author and translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim religious literature, and of the Chinese Art of War tradition of strategy and statecraft. He received a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, but has had minimal involvement with the academic world. - Benjamin Hoff
Benjamin Hoff (born 1946) is an author based in the United States. Two of his books on Taoism, "The Tao of Pooh" and "The Te of Piglet", were on best seller lists. Hoff grew up in Sylvan, Oregon, where he acquired a fondness of the natural world that has been highly influential in his writing. Hoff obtained a B.A. in Asian Art from The Evergreen State College in 1973. Prior to his career in writing, he worked as a tree pruner, antiques restorer, … - Gia-Fu Feng
Gia-fu Feng (b.1919, d.1985) was prominent as both an English translator (with his wife, Jane English) of Daoist classics and a Daoist teacher in the United States, associated with Alan Watts, Jack Kerouac, The Beats, and Abraham Maslow. He was born in Shanghai in 1919 into a fairly wealthy family of some influence. His father was a prominent banker, one of the founders of the Bank of China; his mother died when he was 16. - Wei Wu Wei
Terence Gray (1895 - 1986), better known by the pen name Wei Wu Wei, was a 20th century Taoist philosopher and writer. - Li Bai
Li Bai or Li Po (701-762) was a Chinese poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty. Called the Poet Immortal, Li Bai is often regarded, along with Du Fu, as one of the two greatest poets in China's literary history. Approximately 1,100 of his poems remain today. The first translations in a Western language were published in 1862 by Marquis D'Hervey de Saint-Denys in his "Poésies de l'Époque des Thang". - Zhang Sanfeng
Zhang Sanfeng was a semi-mythical Chinese Taoist priest who is believed by some to have achieved immortality, said variously to date from either the late Song Dynasty, Yuan Dynasty or Ming Dynasty. His name is said to have been Zhang Junbao 張君寶 before he became a Taoist. A legendary culture hero, Zhang Sanfeng is credited by modern practitioners as having originated the concepts of neijia (內家); soft, internal martial arts, specifically T'ai Chi Ch'uan, … - Zhang Daoling
Zhang Daoling, also commonly called Zhang Ling, was an Eastern Han dynasty (2nd Century CE) Taoist hermit who founded the Zhengyi Mengwei Tianshi Dao ("Tradition of the Celestial Master of the Mighty Commonwealth of Orthodox Oneness") sect of Taoism, also known as the "Tianshi Dao" ("Way of the Celestial Masters") sect or the "Wudou Mi Dao" ("Way of Five Bushels of Rice") sect. - Zhu XI
Zhu Xi or Chu Hsi (born October 18, 1130, Yuxi, Fujian province, China - died April 23, 1200, China) was a Song Dynasty (960-1279) Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China. His contribution to Chinese philosophy included his grouping of the Four Books, his emphasis on the investigation of things ("gewu"), … - Wang Wei
Wang Wei was a Chinese woman poet. Orphaned at the age of seven, she became a courtesan in Yangzhou. In later life she was twice married and twice widowed, before becoming a priestess with the name "Taoist Master in the Straw coat". Thereafter she travelled throughout central China on a boat, writing poems celebrating nature. She later traveled to Japan for monetary endeavors and ended up in a brothel because of finances. - Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (born October 21, 1929) is an American author. She has written novels, poetry, children's books, essays, and short stories, most notably in the fantasy and science fiction genres. She was first published in the 1960s. Her works explore Taoist, anarchist, feminist, psychological and sociological themes. She has received several Hugo and Nebula awards, … - Wang Bi
Wang Bi, courtesy name Fu Si (辅嗣), was a Chinese philosopher. His most important works are commentaries on Laozi's "Dao De Jing" and the "I Ching". The text of the "Dao De Jing" that appeared with his commentary was widely considered as the best copy of this work until the discovery of the Mawangdui texts in 1973. He served as a minor bureaucrat in the Kingdom of Wei, one of the Three Kingdoms, and was married with a daughter. - Ge Hong
Ge Hong was a minor southern official during the Jìn Dynasty (263-420), best known for his interest in Daoism, alchemy, and techniques of longevity. Yet religious and esoteric writing represents only a portion of Ge's considerable literary output, which as a whole, spans a broad range of content and genres. Although a prolific writer of many literary styles, most of Ge's early work, such as rhapsodies ("fu"), verse ("shi"), historical commentary, … - John Blofeld
John Eaton Calthorpe Blofeld (Born Anthony, April 2, 1913-June 7, 1987) was a British scholar of Asian thought and religion, especially Taoism and Chinese Buddhism. Blofeld was born in London and educated at Haileybury College, then Downing College, Cambridge University where he read natural sciences but did not complete his degree. Instead he left in his second year for travels to China. From 1933-1939 he resided in and wandered around China, … - Lam Ching Ying
Lam Ching-ying (born: December 27, 1952 in Shanghai; died November 8, 1997 in Hong Kong) was a Chinese actor, action director and director. A graceful martial artist and one of the most physically-talented bodies to have graced the screens, Lam was best-known for playing the stoic taoist priest in "Mr. Vampire" (1985). Lam died in 1997 of liver cancer. - Han Fei
Han Fei (韓非) (ca. 280-233 BC) was a philosopher who, along with Li Si, developed Xun Zi's philosophy into the doctrine embodied by the "School of Law" or Legalism. Unlike the other famed philosophers of the time, Han Fei was a member of the ruling aristocracy, having been born into the ruling family of the state of Han during the end phase of the Warring States Period. - Wu Ma
Wu Ma (real name: 冯宏源; 馮宏源; Féng Hóngyuán; born: August 18, 1942, in Tianjin, China) is a Chinese actor, director, assistant director, producer and writer. Wu Ma made his screen debut in 1963, and with over 180 appearances to his name (plus 38 directorial credits within a twenty-five year period), Wu Ma is one of the most familiar faces in the history of Hong Kong Cinema. He is best known as the Taoist ghosthunter in "A Chinese Ghost Story". - Wang Chongyang
Wang Chongyang <small><nowiki>[</nowiki>Chinese calendar: 宋徽宗政和二年十二月廿二 – 金世宗大定十年正月初四<nowiki>]</nowiki></small> (Traditional Chinese: 王重陽; Simplified Chinese: 王重阳; pinyin: Wáng Chóngyáng) was a Song Dynasty Taoist who was one of the founders of Quanzhen Taoism in the twelfth century. He is one of the Five Northern Patriarchs of that school of Taoism. - Chee Soo
Chee Soo (died 1994) was the grand master of the Lee style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan and the Lee style Taoist Arts. - Guo Xiang
Guo Xiang (d. 312 C.E.), is credited with the first and most important revision of the text known as the Zhuangzi which, along with the Laozi, forms the textual and philosophical basis of the Daoist school of thought. The Guo Xiang redaction of the text revised a fifty-two chapter original by removing material he thought was superstitious and generally not of philosophical interest to his literati sensibilities, resulting in a thirty-three chapter total. - Qiu Chuji
Qiu Chuji (Traditional Chinese: 丘處機; Simplified Chinese: 丘处机, alternately rendered Kiu Chang Chun, Taoist name 長春; [Perpetual Spring]; 1148 - 23 July 1227) was a Quanzhen Taoist, the most famous of Wang Chongyang's seven disciples, or Seven Immortals. He was also the founder of the Dragon Gate Taoism. - Chungliang al Huang
Chungliang Al Huang is an American teacher of Taoism. He lives and teaches in Gold Beach, Oregon and in Urbana, Illinois. Huang is the founder and president of Living Tao Foundation and the director of Lan Ting Institute in China. Huang received his early training in the classics and martial arts in China and is a teacher of his own version of tai chi and contemporary Taoism. He is the author of many books. - Hanshan
Hanshan (fl. 9th century) was a mythological figure associated with a collection of poems from the Chinese Tang Dynasty in the Taoist and Zen tradition. He is honored as a Bodhisattva -figure in Zen-mythology in Japanese and Chinese paintings together with his sidekick Shide and with Fenggan. - Zuo Ci
Zuo Ci (左慈) is a legendary personage of the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history. As described in the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" he was a Taoist known under the name of "Master Black Horn" who was allied with no one. He wielded amazing Taoist power and was described as psychic. He studied on the Mount Emei in Sichuan, … - Michael Saso
Michael R. Saso, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of the University of Hawaii Department of Religion. (Born December 7 1930, Portland, Oregon. Parents: Andrew Saso and Beatrice Saso, "née" Hunt.) (B.A., Literature, St. Clara University, 1952; M.A., Philosophy/Anthropology, Gonzaga University, 1955; M.A., Chinese Studies, Yale University, 1964; Ph.D., Classical Chinese/Anthropology, London University 1971.) Joined University of Hawaii as an associate professor in 1974, … - Shao Yong
Shao Yong, named Shào Kāngjié (邵康節) after death, was a Song Dynasty Chinese philosopher, cosmologist, poet and historian who greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China. Shao is considered one of the most scholarly men of his time. Yet, unlike men of such stature in his society, Shao avoided assuming governmental positions his entire life. Despite this, his influence was no less substantial. - Agnes Martin
Agnes Martin (March 22, 1912 - December 16, 2004) was a Canadian-American painter, often referred to as a minimalist, although she considered herself an abstract expressionist. She was born in Macklin, Saskatchewan and moved to the United States in 1931, becoming a citizen in 1950. She is most closely associated with Taos, New Mexico, although she also lived in New York City for a time. The bulk of her work is composed of square grids. - Shen Dao
Shen Dao was an itinerant Chinese philosopher from Zhao who also served at the Jixia academy in Qi. His own original 42 essays have been lost, and only 7 are still extant, and he is known largely through short references and the writings of others, notably Han Fei and Zhuang Zi. The most noteworthy aspect of Shen Dao's philosophy is the fact that it represented a synthesis of Taoist and Legalist thought. - Wu Qi
Wu Qi (d. 381 BC) was a Chinese military leader and politician in the warring states period. Born in the state of Wei (衛), he was good at leading an army. He had served in the states of Lu and Wei. In the state of Wei he commanded many great battles and was appointed Xihe Shou (mayor in the Xihe county). Later he went to the State of Chu and was appointed Prime Minister by King Dao of Chu (楚悼王). - Pang Tong
Páng Tǒng (龐統) (178-213AD), courtesy name Shìyuán (士元), was an advisor to Liu Bei during the Later Han period. His Taoist name was Young Phoenix (鳯雛; Fèngchú). The epic historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms portrays Pang Tong as a genius military tactician, and describes him and strategist Zhuge Liang in equal terms. - Yang Guifei
Yáng Guìfēi, Yáng: (a common surname), Guìfēi: 'highest-ranking imperial concubine' (literally means 'precious princess consort'), (June 1, 719 - July 15, 756), born Yáng Yùhuán (楊玉環), was one of the Four Beauties of ancient China. She was the beloved consort of the Xuanzong emperor for many years, … - Wang Yuanlu
Wang Yuanlu (c.a. 1849 - 1931) was a Taoist priest acting as an abbot of the caves in Dunhuang at the beginning of the 20th century. He discovered ancient Buddhist scriptures in a temple there, and, failing to appreciate their cultural value, sold them to various visitors from Europe. The first was Sir Aurel Stein, who took a largely random selection of the works. One source states that "To gain access to the caves, Stein had to hoodwink their slightly mad, … - Sun Bu'Er
Sun Bu'er, one of the Taoist Seven Masters of Quanzhen lived circa 1119 – 1182 C.E. in the Shandong province of China. She was a beautiful, intelligent, wealthy woman, married with three children. Her family name was Sun and her personal name was Fuchun, Bu'er being her name in religion. Her husband Ma Yu was a student of Wang Chongyang. At the age of 51 she took up serious study of the Dao and herself became a disciple of Wang Chongyang, … - John P. Milton
John P. Milton is a meditation and Qi Gong instructor, author, and a pioneering environmentalist. He pioneered vision questing in contemporary Western culture in the 1940s. In 1945, at the time he began his sacred solo retreats in the wilderness, vision quests were unknown in the Americas outside Native American culture. He received his M.S. in ecology and conservation from the University of Michigan in 1963. - Cui Hao
Cui Hao (崔浩) (d. 450), courtesy name Boyuan (伯淵), was a prime minister of the Chinese/Xianbei dynasty Northern Wei. Largely because of Cui's counsel, Emperor Taiwu of Northern Wei was able to unify northern China, ending the Sixteen Kingdoms era and, along with the southern Liu Song, entering the Southern and Northern Dynasties era. Also because of the influence of Cui, who was a devout Taoist, Emperor Taiwu became a devout Taoist as well. - Liu Ling
Liu Ling, born 221 and died 300, was a Chinese poet and scholar. Little information survives about his family background, though he is described in historical sources as short and unattractive, with a dissipated appearance. One of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, Liu Ling was a Taoist who retreated to the countryside in order to pursue a spontaneous and natural existence that would have been impossible under the tight constraints of the Imperial court.
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