The Path: What Chinese Philosophers Can Teach Us About the Good Life (Thorndike Press Large Print Lifestyles) - Hardcover

Puett, Michael; Gross-Loh, Christine

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1410491323 ISBN 13: 9781410491329

Publisher: Thorndike Pr, 2016

Synopsis

For the first time an award-winning Harvard professor shares his wildly popular course on classical Chinese philosophy, showing you how these ancient ideas can guide you on the path to a good life today.
Why is a course on ancient Chinese philosophers one of the most popular at Harvard?
It's because the course challenges all our modern assumptions about what it takes to flourish. This is why Professor Michael Puett says to his students, "The encounter with these ideas will change your life." As one of them told his collaborator, author Christine Gross-Loh, "You can open yourself up to possibilities you never imagined were even possible."
These astonishing teachings emerged two thousand years ago through the work of a succession of Chinese scholars exploring how humans can improve themselves and their society. And what are these counterintuitive ideas? Good relationships come not from being sincere and authentic, but from the rituals we perform within them. Influence comes not from wielding power but from holding back. Excellence comes from what we choose to do, not our natural abilities. A good life emerges not from planning it out, but through training ourselves to respond well to small moments. Transformation comes not from looking within for a true self, but from creating conditions that produce new possibilities.
In other words, The Path upends everything we are told about how to lead a good life. Above all, unlike most books on the subject, its most radical idea is that there is no path to follow in the first place--just a journey we create anew at every moment by seeing and doing things differently.
Sometimes voices from the past can offer possibilities for thinking afresh about the future.
A note from the publisher:
To read relevant passages from the original works of Chinese philosophy, see our free ebook Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi: Selected Passages, available on Kindle, Nook, and the iBook Store and at Books.SimonandSchuster.com.

About this title

Review

"I read "The Path" in one sitting and have been talking about it to "everyone." It's brilliant, mesmerizing, profound--and deeply contrarian. It stands conventional wisdom on its head and points the way to a life of genuine fulfillment and meaning."--Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Triple Package

I read "The Path" in one sitting and have been talking about it to "everyone." It s brilliant, mesmerizing, profound and deeply contrarian. It stands conventional wisdom on its head and points the way to a life of genuine fulfillment and meaning. --Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Triple Package"

""The Path" illuminates a little-known spiritual and intellectual landscape: the rich body of Chinese thought that, starting more than two millennia ago, charted new approaches to living a meaningful life. But Puett goes a lot further, creatively applying this ancient thought to the dilemmas of modern life. The result is a fresh recipe for harnessing our natural energies and emotions to strengthen social connection and build islands of order amid the chaos that sometimes surrounds us. --Robert Wright, author of The Language of God"

""The Path" will not only change your life--it will change the way you see history and the world. From its wondrously fresh take on Confucius to its quietly profound read of just what it is the great sages have to say to us, this book exemplifies all that can come of the radical openness of Chinese philosophy. Read it and be transformed."--Gish Jen, author of Tiger Writing and The Love Wife"

**International Bestseller**

**"New York Times" and International Bestseller**

**New York Times and International Bestseller**

I read The Path in one sitting and have been talking about it to everyone. It s brilliant, mesmerizing, profound and deeply contrarian. It stands conventional wisdom on its head and points the way to a life of genuine fulfillment and meaning. --Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Triple Package"

This is a book that turns the notion of help and the self, for that matter on its head. Puett and Gross-Loh bring seemingly esoteric concepts down to Earth, where we can see them more clearly. The result is a philosophy book grounded in the here and now, and brimming with nuggets of insight. No fortune-cookie this, The Path serves up a buffet of meaty life lessons. I found myself reading and re-reading sections, letting the wisdom steep like a good cup of tea. --Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius"

This book is a revelation, a practical way through a fractured, distracting world. I thought I knew these philosophers and I was wrong. Rigorous, concise, deeply informed, The Path retires our facile shorthand about ideas from the East and presents a powerful intellectual case to engage, to care, and to remember. --Evan Osnos, National Book Award-winning author of Age of Ambition"

"I read The Path in one sitting and have been talking about it to everyone. It's brilliant, mesmerizing, profound--and deeply contrarian. It stands conventional wisdom on its head and points the way to a life of genuine fulfillment and meaning."--Amy Chua, Yale Law professor and author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother and The Triple Package

"This is a book that turns the notion of help--and the self, for that matter--on its head. Puett and Gross-Loh bring seemingly esoteric concepts down to Earth, where we can see them more clearly. The result is a philosophy book grounded in the here and now, and brimming with nuggets of insight. No fortune-cookie this, The Path serves up a buffet of meaty life lessons. I found myself reading and re-reading sections, letting the wisdom steep like a good cup of tea."--Eric Weiner, author of The Geography of Bliss and The Geography of Genius

"This book is a revelation, a practical way through a fractured, distracting world. I thought I knew these philosophers--and I was wrong. Rigorous, concise, deeply informed, The Path retires our facile shorthand about ideas 'from the East' and presents a powerful intellectual case to engage, to care, and to remember."--Evan Osnos, National Book Award-winning author of Age of Ambition

"The Path will not only change your life--it will change the way you see history and the world. From its wondrously fresh take on Confucius to its quietly profound read of just what it is the great sages have to say to us, this book exemplifies all that can come of the radical openness of Chinese philosophy. Read it and be transformed."--Gish Jen, author of Tiger Writing and The Love Wife

"The Path illuminates a little-known spiritual and intellectual landscape: the rich body of Chinese thought that, starting more than two millennia ago, charted new approaches to living a meaningful life. But Puett goes a lot further, creatively applying this ancient thought to the dilemmas of modern life. The result is a fresh recipe for harnessing our natural energies and emotions to strengthen social connection and build islands of order amid the chaos that sometimes surrounds us."--Robert Wright, author of The Language of God

About the Author

Michael Puett is the Walter C. Klein Professor of Chinese History in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations and Chair of the Committee on the Study of Religion at Harvard University. He is the recipient of a Harvard College Professorship for excellence in undergraduate teaching and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

Christine Gross-Loh is a journalist and author. Her writing has appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and The Guardian. She has a PhD from Harvard University in East Asian history.

Edition details

• Publisher: Thorndike Pr
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1410491323
• ISBN 13: 9781410491329
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 261