Long-time China scholar, US political officer in Hong Kong, lecturer at both Harvard and Yale; Holmes Welch was one of the first English writers to describe contemporary Buddhism and Taoism. He carefully followed the persecutions and exodus of Buddhism in China under Mao and the history of Taoism as it split into various schools.
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Taoism—The Parting of the Way, 1957
“The Tao Te Ching is a magic mirror, always found to reflect our concept of the truth. How easily we find our image in it! From person to person the sense changes, but the truthfulness remains.”
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“Taoism cannot be traced back to Lao Tzu or any other single man. Its principal branches were not offshoots of the Taoist church. Those who set up the church were not followers of Lao Tzu (they turned their backs on almost every precept in his book). the doctrines of Taoism are no more 'corrupt' today than they were when it began. And to call it a religion at all is misleading because, though it included a religion, its other elements were equally important.”
from Taoism—The Parting of the Way, 1957
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