主编：Jack Miles (ed. in chief),

书名：《诺顿世界宗教选集》

The Norton anthology of world religions

volume 1: Hinduism, Buddhism, Daoism

volume 2: Judaism, Christianity, Islam

New York: Norton, 2015 (4448 p., ISBN 978-0-393-06253-3).

vol. 1, pp. 1471-2182: Daoism (ed. by James Robson; also separately available as paperback: ISBN 978-0-393-91897-7).

pp. 2032-2036: Matteo Ricci, description of Daoism (and the conclusion about the three Chinese religions or sects) in: Trigault / Gallagher,China in the sixteenth century: The journals of Matthew Ricci: 1583-1610 (1953), pp. 102-105.

For the reason to include the desciption of Daoism by Ricci/Trigault in this anthology, see the introduction (pp. 1473-1496), the paragraph “ The lasting influence of “Jesuit Daoism” ” (pp. 1475-1477):

Ricci praised Confucianism ... and he lambasted Daoism (as he did Buddhism) as a deviant religion based on the idolatrous and superstitious beliefs and practices of the poor and power-less. But the Jesuits were keen observers, and Ricci’s descriptions of various aspects of Daoist practice are invaluable [*] ... The Jesuits’ admiration for Confucianism and disdain for Daoism persisted through the seventeenth century. Negative images of Daoist religious practices spread further after ... Kircher published his influential China illustrata (1667) ... The 1687 publication of Confucius Sinarum philosophus ... bolstered the image of Confucius as a paragon of Chinese philosophy. ... [Rites Controversy] ... Yet the Jesuits’ discredited position, with its artificial separation of Chinese philosophy from religion, had a profound impact and lasting impact on the European understanding of Daoism ... [citation of Lagerwey, Taoist ritual in Chinese society and history, 1987, p. xi]. The Western image of Daoism conveyed by the Jesuits influenced later Enlightenment thinkers ... [such as Kant, Locke, Voltaire, Leibniz] who, driven by their commitment to wisdom, logic and reason, similarly developed a deep scorn for Daoist religious practices and an admiration of Confucianism. The victory of high-minded rationality (Confucianism) over lowbrow beliefs in immortality and magic (Daoism) is a common trope in the interpretation of Western literature and religion and mirrors the Protestant notion of a pure Christian tradition that, in Roman Catholicism, devolved into mere ritual and superstitious beliefs. (next paragraph, p. 1477/78: James Legge and “Protestant Daoism”)

[*my note:] For a similar observation, see Ronnie Littlejohn’s article: “Magicians, enchanters, and professional crooks”: Early modern understanding of Daoism, pp. 129-159 in: Encountering China: early modern European responses (Lewisburg & Lanham, 2012).