Benjamin Hoff

Benjamin Hoff is an American writer who introduced Daoist ideas to a general readership through the characters of A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh. He grew up in Portland, Oregon. In The Tao of Pooh (1982) Pooh, who simply is what he is, stands for the Daoist way of living, while the busy, clever Owl and Rabbit show the restless striving that Daoism questions. A companion book, The Te of Piglet (1992), turns to the virtue of the small and humble. Hoff later published his own version of the Tao Te Ching.

Key ideas

• The Daoist ideal of the Uncarved Block (pu) is simplicity before cleverness and convention complicate it.
• Wu wei, effortless action, means working with the nature of things rather than forcing them.
• Knowledge piled up for its own sake, as in Owl, can stand in the way of wisdom.
• The restless Bisy Backson, always rushing somewhere, misses the contentment of the present moment.

Major works

• The Tao of Pooh (1982)
• The Te of Piglet (1992)
• The Eternal Tao Te Ching (2021)

In the Book corner

• The Tao of Pooh 1982 · Beginner
  A short, playful introduction to Daoism that uses A. A. Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh as its teacher. Hoff writes himself into the book in…

In the conversation

No topics yet. Start one about this thinker.