Product Description: For too long, analytic philosophy discounted insights from the Chinese philosophical tradition. In the last decade or so, however, philosophers have begun to bring the insights of Chinese thought to bear on current philosophical issues...read more

This is a Guardian Best Book of 2014 and a 2014 Brain Pickings Best Book on Psychology, Philosophy, and How to Live Meaningfully Why is it hard to fall asleep the night before an important meeting? Or be charming and relaxed on a first date? What is it about a comedian whose jokes fall flat or an athlete who chokes? In all these cases, spontaneity is elusive. In Trying Not to Try, Edward Slingerland shows us how we can harness its power and become more effective. We've long been told that the way to achieve our goals is through careful reasoning and conscious effort, but recent research suggests that many aspects of a satisfying life are best pursued indirectly. The early Chinese philosophers knew this, and they wrote extensively about how we can achieve wu-wei (ooo-way) - an effortless, spontaneous way of being in the world. Through stories of mythical creatures and drunken cart riders, jazz musicians and Japanese motorcycle gangs, Slingerland effortlessly blends Eastern thought and cutting-edge science to show us how we can embody a spontaneous way of being and live more fulfilling lives.

Product Description: Yogacara is one of the most influential philosophical systems of Indian Buddhism. Competing traditions of Yogacara thought were first introduced into China during the sixth century. By the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), however, key commentaries of this school had ceased being transmitted in China, and it was not until the end of the nineteenth century that a number of them were re-introduced from Japan where their transmission had been uninterrupted...read more

Product Description: Zhuangzi: Text and Context is a comprehensive discussion of the ancient Daoist work Zhuangzi in 24 chapters, providing a chronologically-based outline of the context of the work, from the compilation of the text to its reading in 21st century ecology, plus a systematic discussion and interpretation of its central concepts from perfect happiness to playful uselessness...read more

Product Description: The development of modern Chinese thought involves an ongoing interaction between internal processes and impacts of foreign ideas. Several intellectual controversies are interwoven into its history and among these one of the more philosophical ones began some 90 years ago, in 1923...read more