Book Review: The Te of Piglet by Benjamin Hoff

This is the second book in this series after ‘The Tao of Pooh’.

Taoism is a way of living in harmony with Tao, the Way of the Universe, the character of which is revealed in the workings of the natural world. In China, Taoism is what might be called the counterbalance of Confucianism. Taoism is emotional, happy, serene – like its favourite symbol, flowing water.

The ‘Te’ of the title is pronounced DEH, in classical Chinese, and it is written two ways. The first way joins the character for “upright” to the character for “heart”. Its meaning is virtue. The second way adds the character for “left foot”, which in Chinese signifies “stepping out”. Its meaning is virtue in action.

This book is concerned with the transformation of Virtue into Virtue Stepping Out and as you will have gathered in the Pooh books it is Piglet who undergoes this transformation.

The Te of Piglet uses events in both Winnie the Pooh and the House at Pooh Corner to illustrate how Piglet makes the transformation and to educate the reader about Taoism.

It’s a very effective way to inform readers about Taoism as very few people aren’t charmed by AA Milne’s characters in these books. It’s also a chance to reevaluate some of the other characters from the AA Milne books – I’d forgotten that Rabbit tried to make Kanga leave the wood by having Roo kidnapped. He also tried to lose Tigger in the woods towards the end of House at Pooh Corner as he was fed up with Tigger’s bounciness. In the end, Rabbit got lost in the woods and Tigger rescued him.

I wonder which Chinese philosophy could be applied to Tigger and Eeyore?