Preface -- 1. 'The way that can be told': introduction -- 2. 'The meaning is not the meaning': on the nature of Daoism -- 3. 'Cramped scholars': Western interpretations of Daoism -- 4. 'The Great Clod': Daoist natural philosophy -- 5. 'Going rambling without destination': moral explorations -- 6. 'The transformation of things': the alchemy of life, sex and health -- 7. 'The Way is incommunicable': transcendence -- 8. 'The twitter of birds': philosophical themes -- 9. 'Journey to the West': by way of concluding -- Appendix I: Chinese dynastic chronology -- Appendix II. Wade-Giles/Pinyin conversion table -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Name index -- Subject index.