Some said it was a nice idea, but too difficult "Just where would you even begin?" they asked. Others said it was the stupidest thing they'd ever heard, and that I must be dreaming. When informed of my intentions, the scholars exclaimed, "Preposterous!" and things like that. That was when I began to get an idea: to write a book that explained the principles of Taoism through Winnie-the-Pooh, and explained Winnie the-Pooh through the principles of Taoism. "It's about this dumpy little bear that wanders around asking silly questions, making up songs, and going through all kinds of adventures, without ever accumulating any amount of intellectual knowledge or losing his simpleminded sort of happiness. "It sounds like something from Winnie-the-Pooh," he said. "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. "When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" That was after some of us were discussing the Great Masters of Wisdom, and someone was saying how all of them came from the East, and I was saying that some of them didn't, but he was going on and on, just like this sentence, not paying any attention, when I decided to read a quotation of Wisdom from the West, to prove that there was more to the world than one half, and I read: "It's about how to stay happy and calm under all circumstances!" I yelled. "What's it about?" asked Pooh, leaning forward and smearing another word. "It seems more like the ow! of Pooh," said Pooh, rubbing his paw. "The Tao of Pooh," I replied, poking his paw away with my pencil. "The how of Pooh?" asked Pooh, smudging one of the words I had just written. "What's this you're writing?" asked Pooh, climbing onto the writing table. "Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie." He is the author of The Tao of Pooh, The Te of Piglet, and The Singing Creek Where the Willows Crow : The Mystical Nature Diary of Opal Whiteley (all of which are available in Penguin). He also enjoys sleeping and lying about on the floor. The rest of the time he practices Taoist yoga, Tai Chi Ch'iian, stunt kite-flying, boomerang shaping and (ouch!) throwing, and Taoist tennis, whatever that is. A Bachelor of Arts (he thinks his degree was in Asian Art, but then, he hasn't looked at it for a while, and it may not be), he was until recently a Japanese-trained fine pruning specialist. Benjamin Hoff is an Oregon writer, photographer, musician, and composer with a fondness for Forests and Bears.
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