TAO TSANG

(ChineseCanon of the Way) also called Taoist Canon a large, imperially sponsored collection of Taoist writings, very few of which have been translated into English. The original canon, printed by the Taoist emperors of the Sung dynasty (AD 9601279), comprised almost 5,000 volumes, but many of these were destroyed by imperial decree during the Yan, or Mongol, dynasty (12791368). The present Tao Tsang, numbering well over 1,000 volumes, contains a variety of texts including speculative philosophical writings and esoteric works on Taoist meditation, alchemy, and divine revelation.