Christ the Eternal Tao [Paperback]

.
There have been many books published in the latter half of the twentieth century that attempt to bridge the gap between East and West, more specifically, between Christianity in the West and Buddhism or Taoism in the East. Some of this has been due to increasing communication and resulting global shrinkage, but the basic presuppositions of most of these books seem to have fallen into three camps:

* Superficial and featureless syncretism (it's all ultimately the same)

* The spiritually impoverished West must experience renewal based on new wisdom from Eastern religions

* A fundamentalist type reaction against finding any wisdom outside their own "camp".

There have even been books by teachers of Eastern wisdom that attempt to find a place for Christian spirituality "within" their
own world view. Few of these books meet both traditions on their
own terms, relying on a superficial understanding of them, or on
reinterpretation of traditional content to meet "new" needs.

With the publication, of Christ the Eternal Tao, we have a truly new book which does not fall into the usual 3 camps. First of all, it presents a picture of Taoism which is the result of a serious study. Fr. Damascene draws on the deep and detailed notes of his spiritual predecessor, Hieromonk Seraphim Rose (whom he has extensively written about in the soon to be published biography), and the latter's studies with Taoist philosopher, Gi-Ming Shien. Even many of the quotes from the Tao Te Ching are from a completely fresh translation by Fr. Seraphim. Fr. Damascene is also apparently not unfamiliar with Eastern spiritual paths in his own experience.

Secondly, Fr. Damascene has not drawn on an impoverished Christianity seeking new roots, but the more ancient and mystical Christianity of the East, which is at home in deeper spiritual waters, although not well known in the West (Orthodox spirituality is occasionally referred to as "The best kept secret in America"). He is a recipient of this tradition, and is able to explain the essence of it in contemporary terms.

The first section is a "Gospel according to Lao Tzu", by which we see the Gospel of Christ in the light of Lao Tzu's intuitive, philosophic and poetic vision of the source of life.

The second section is a spiritual history of the world, which focuses on essential aspects of the work of Christ and of Lao Tzu, and the meanings they share.

The third section, my favorite and the bulk of the book, could be an effective book all by itself. In demonstrating the real link of spiritual psychology and practice between Lao Tzu and Orthodox Spirituality, Fr. Damascene gives us an essential exposition of the spiritual path in practical form. This section gives us a glimpse of spiritual life in working experience beyond philosophical conception. He demonstrates his practical understanding of spiritual psychology and development in a manner that will make sense to students of Zen, Dzogchen or Vedanta as
well as Taoism or Christianity. This section can serve as a practical manual of spiritual development even for those not interested in the other themes of the book. It gives us a glimpse, not just of "our original face", but of the image of Christ which transcends a merely conceptual belief system mediated by words or thoughts.

The latter part of the book shows us the fruit of the spiritual path set forth in section three. It is a compendium of recent Orthodox Saints, sages and living confessors, who have followed
this path until they have literally shone with uncreated Teh or the uncreated divine energies in the form of light. In this way, we have their examples and instructions to us which reinforce the clarity of this path. There is also an appendix with a brief history of Chinese Orthodox Saints, who further demonstrate how sages of the Tao have found the completion of their path in this experience of Eastern Christianity.

The book is beautifully illustrated by photos of Saints and Sages, masterful Chinese calligraphy and seals, the life of Christ via rare traditional Chinese scroll paintings, and the cover: a Russian Icon of Christ which naturally absorbed Chinese artistic influences.

I don't think the reviewer below me has actually READ the book. This is a thoroughly Orthodox treatment of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, which the Orthodox monk shows to anticipate the coming of Christ.

Brilliant, Fascinating, Orthodox.

Again, I really don't think the reader directly below this review has actually read the book. This is not about relativism, but how Christ fulfills all faith-- how the world, not just the Jews, were prepared for His glorious incarnation.

_Christ the Eternal Tao_ by Hieromonk Damascene (Serbian Orthodox) examines the philosophy of China's ancient sage Lao Tzu, and how it is a precursor to the Revelation of Christ. Lao Tzu lived in China about 500 years before Christ and is known by his metaphysical work, _The Tao Te Ching_, which translated can mean _The Way and its Power_. The first part of the book is an introduction explaining how ancient traditions not specifically Christian can be said to speak of Christ in mystical terms, based on human intuition but not Divine Revelation. The high point of human intuition lies in the _Tao Te Ching_, an indefinite yet profound document, which is as far as a human philosopher can approach the Truth without Divine Revelation. The highest Revealed Truth is in the Gospel according to John, "In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The ancient Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus, Pythagoras, Socrates and Plato shared many similarities to the Chinese, and there are also many parallels between the Byzantine Empire under an official Christian Emperor and Imperial China. Heraclitus developed the idea of the Logos or Word in Greece. Lao Tzu's "Tao" is translated from the Chinese as the "Way" or the "Word", both of which are titles of Christ. "Te" is similar to the concept of "grace" in Christian theology, an energy from God. The ancients before Christ had traditions that were handed down from generation to generation, but they became more diluted as time passed. The wise Chinese teacher Confucius confessed "that the great Sacrifice to Heaven had been corrupted and that its meaning had been lost." The introductory material also covers the phenomenon of Westerners becoming more interested in eastern religions, Taoism among them. Conversely, many Chinese today are converting to Christianity en masse. The _Tao Te Ching_ represents a human wisdom and insight uncorrupted by modernity and distortions of original Christian teachings, a pristine philosophy according to the interpretation here points to Christ. _Christ the Eternal Tao_ will probably not appeal to Protestant evangelical Christians; another commentator noted "there is no in-your-face theism here." In addition to evangelicals/fundamentalists the book will not appeal to people who consider themselves "Taoists." Many "Taoists" today are those searching for an alternative to Christianity, and are generally predisposed against a specifically Christian interpretation of Lao Tzu. The second part of the book is composed of a poem written after the style of the _Tao Te Ching_, intentionally rewritten to make it explicitly Christian. This "Gospel According to Lao Tzu" assimilates ideas from the Chinese scholar Gi-ming Shien whose exposition of classical Chinese philosophy (not the contemporary Western-liberal interpretation) influenced Fr. Seraphim Rose. This poem contains an explanation of the Trinity and how the three persons relate to one another, described in a way that almost approaches a rational explanation (of course a religious doctrine can never be explained "rationally"). The second half of _Christ the Eternal Tao_ goes into Chirstian mysticism and how hesychasm and the Jesus Prayer/Prayer of the heart relate to Lao Tzu's teaching. This section was not as interesting as the first and but would appeal to a monastic audience. The ascetic, suffering, all-loving, self-emptying ideal is the one most revered. To overcome worldly passions one must experience "ego-death", the total loss of self: "The Way...may also work through physical pain, or through emotional pain arising from the loss of a loved one or any other of our earthly attachments. At the time, we may find this to be terribly and unnecessarily cruel..." Life in the Divine "required the slow, painful, merciless death of the ego...with that true life begins." Damascene, in another section, draws from Fr. Seraphim's work and explains the enigmatic meaning of Christ's statement referring to Himself as the least in the kingdom of Heaven in addition to Lao Tzu's concept of "nothingness." "...'Nothingness' in the meaning that Lao Tzu gives it, is the 'point of convergence' or axis of the universe...If nothingness or self-emptying is the axis of the universe, then the Cross of Christ, the greatest sign to man of the self-emptying of God, now becomes that axis. Christ the Tao/Logos stands at the axis; and there, in the 'space where there is nothing,' we find not an impersonal void, but the personal heart of the selfless, self-forgetting God." In all I recomment _Christ the Eternal Tao_ as an insightful, if sometimes tedious read, about the "esoteric core" of the _Way and its Power_.