Gathering together the seminal texts of major world religions and metaphysics, this collection offers a window into diverse perspectives on ethics, truth, and what it means to lead a good life. Each volume includes contemporary editions of each text, as well as facing-page commentary, providing analysis and cultural context.

This extensive collection of religious texts examines a wide variety of spiritual traditions. Modern students of religion understand the difference between traditional streams of thought regarding Ultimate Reality. These volumes invite readers into the ancient conversation and provide a grounding for modern scholarship and inter-faith understanding.

The Chuang-tzu is the second major text of the Taoist tradition. It was compiled in the third century BCE and follows the lead of the oldest of all Taoist texts, the Tao-te-ching (Book of the Tao and Its Potency). Using parable, anecdote, allegory, and paradox, the Chuang-tzu presents the central message of what was to become the Taoist school: a reverence for the Tao—the “Way” of the natural world—and the belief that one is not truly virtuous until one is set free from the burden of circumstanc...