ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Much appreciation goes to the late Master Tung Tsai [T. T.] Liang for first giving me his copies of The Jade Emperor’s Immortality Classic and the Pao P’u Tzu and for helping me with some of the more difficult concepts expressed in these works. But mostly I wish to thank him for his years of instruction, guidance, and friendship, which made life itself more enjoyable. He was truly, as Ko Hung describes in the Pao P’u Tzu, a corpse-freed immortal.

Without question I must also thank my teacher, the late Ch’an Master Hsuan Hua, and all the monks and nuns at the City of Ten-Thousand Buddhas. They changed the course of my life, and by pure example revealed to me the meaning of self-cultivation. To all of them I bow with the deepest respect.

So many thanks to Patrick D. Gross for his valuable help and suggestions with editing.

To Professor Wu Yi, who first taught me about Lao-tzu’s philosophy during my residency at the City of Ten-Thousand Buddhas, my deepest gratitude for all his patient tutoring.

To the most wonderful Taoist priests, Shijing and Shidao, of the British Taoist Association, for all their kind support of my work and their generous help in providing several pieces of artwork, as well as for Shijing’s writing of the foreword to this work.

Finally, I wish to acknowledge the indispensable help given so generously during the many phases of this book over the years by Jay and Page Cowles, Joanne Von Blon, Harry Cunliffe, Richard Peterson, Loa Lian Hwa, Lara Puffer, Karen Morodomi, and possibly the Jade Emperor himself.