"An introduction to ancient Chinese ideas on how to live a good life"--.

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Book Title Translations
  • Classics
  • Scholars
• Introduction
  • Aim, Scope, Method
  • Reasons for Writing
  • Disparity of Sources
  • Technical Terms
    • Heaven and Earth (天地)
    • The Way (道)
  • Imaginativeness, Applicability, and Metaphor
• Part I. Person (人)
  • Chapter 1 Body (體)
    • Introduction
    • Cosmology (天地學)
    • Living Humans (生者)
    • Dead Humans (逝者)
    • Bodily Self-Cultivation (治氣)
  • Chapter 2 Nature (性)
    • Various Aspects of Human Nature
    • Human Nature Comes from Heaven and Earth
    • Human Nature is Universal
    • Human Nature: Good or Bad?
    • Human Nature Needs Cultivation
    • Emotions Derive from Inclinations, which Derive from Human Nature
    • How to Deal with Emotions
    • The Role of Concern (憂)
    • Tranquility (靜) is the Goal
  • Chapter 3 Mind (心)
    • Cultivate Your Mind (修心)
    • An Open Mind (虛心) …
    • … Leads to Non-Contrivance (無為) …
    • … and Creativity
    • … and Honesty (誠)
    • But: Follow (Natural) Principles (理)
    • Detachment (無執 / 處超然 / 獨 / 遊心)
    • Contentment (知足) and Humility (謙遜)
    • Embrace the Unified Cosmos (抱一) and Know Yourself (自知)
    • Sagely People (聖人)
• Part II. Environment (地)
  • Chapter 4 Virtuosity (德)
    • Introduction
    • Fifteen Virtuosities (敬公讓忠勇, 禮義孝仁智, 慎柔恕誠和)
    • The Relativity of Virtuosity
    • Noble People (君子)
  • Chapter 5 Timeliness (時)
    • Contexts
    • Practices
    • Outcomes
• Part III. Objects (物)
  • Chapter 6 Learning (學)
    • Learning as Self-Cultivation
    • What to Learn (I): History
    • What to Learn (II): Rhetoric
    • Hence: Reality-Based (實)
    • Why Learn? Ethics (道德) and Joy (說/悅)
    • Teachers (師)
  • Chapter 7 Music (樂)
    • Music in Self-Cultivation
    • Music Results in: Personal Happiness (樂)
    • Music Results in: Social Harmony (合)
• Part IV. Cosmos (天)
  • Chapter 8 Fate (命)
    • Introduction
    • Ameliorable Fate
    • Fate as Fatalism
    • Divination (占卜 / 策龜)
    • Outcome: Contentment (知足)
    • Outcome: Acceptance of Death
    • Genuine People (真人)
  • Chapter 9 Destiny (天)
    • Introduction
    • The Heavenly and the Human
    • The Heavenly of the Human
    • Fulfilled People (至人)
  • Chapter 10 Spiritousness (神)
    • Spirit and Spiritous (神)
    • Spirit/ous(ness) (神)
    • Essential Spiritousness (精神)
    • Spiritous Percipients / Percipience (神明)
    • The Numinous (靈)
    • Spirit/ousness in Self-Cultivation
    • Outcome: Making Use of (Incipient Heavenly) Principles (理)
    • Spiritous People (神人)
• Works Cited
• Index