Philosophy Is Not Theory but a Way of Life, Wisdom Is Not a Concept but Awakening and Liberation
This book presents a remarkable dialogue between Xuemo, a leading voice of Eastern wisdom, and Pierre Hadot, the renowned Western philosopher. Together, they explore the intersections and differences between philosophy and spiritual practice, breaking through cultural boundaries to open a new chapter of cross-cultural dialogue.
The discussions compare the Stoic practice of the West-daily reflection, emotional discipline, meditations on death-with Xuemo's heart-based philosophy and the practice of Mahamudra. Both traditions, though different in form, converge on the same goal: inner awakening and freedom.
By addressing the roots of modern anxiety, confusion, and pressure-attachment to external conditions and to the self-this book offers practical methods of healing and growth. Xuemo's "Flow of Awareness" and Hadot's "Spiritual Practice" together reveal philosophy's true aim: to help us transcend emotional turmoil, release attachments, and return to the luminous awareness within, leading to profound transformation of life.
Xuemo, born in 1963 as Chen Kaihong, is a renowned writer from Gansu, China. He has written over 80 books, published in more than 200 editions, with translations available in over 20 languages.
Xuemo's novel
Into the Desert won the 2022 Excellent Translation Award by the China International Communications Group (CICG), the 2024 NYC Big Book Award for Women's Fiction and the 2024 Independent Press Award for Literary Fiction. Xuemo has been named International Impact Book Awards-Author of the Year 2025 for
Into the Desert. His novel
Curses of the Kingdom of Xixia won the 2024 NYC Big Book Award for World Literature. The novel
Wild Fox Ridge won the 2024 International Impact Book Awards, it was also honored with the 2025 International Book Awards and 2025 NYC Big Book Award.
White Tiger Pass received the 2026 International Impact Book Awards. He has been nominated three times for the Mao Dun Literature Prize and has won the Dunhuang Literature and Art Award six consecutive times.
The e-book editions of
Desert Rites,
Desert Hunters, White Tiger Pass,
Love Letters from the Goddess,
Eternal Love and
Reclaim the Throne of Your Heart have repeatedly ranked No. 1 on Amazon's bestseller lists.
Xuemo, born in 1963 as Chen Kaihong, is a renowned writer from Gansu, China. He has written over 80 books, published in more than 200 editions, with translations available in over 20 languages, including English, French, German, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.Xuemo is one of China's most influential contemporary writers. His audiobook Buddha's Wisdom: Xuemo Interprets the Diamond Sutra on the Himalaya platform, has been played over 35 million times and remains a top-ranking program. His series What's on Laozi's mind: Xuemo Interprets Dao De Jing has sold nearly one million copies in China.Since 2019, his works have been featured in independent booths at major international book fairs and film festivals in Germany, London, the United States, and across Asia. In 2022, he topped the International Media Spotlight List at the Frankfurt Book Fair, drawing more attention than the Guest of Honor, Spain. This achievement was hailed as one of the most remarkable and memorable events of the Frankfurt Book Fair 2022.Notably, more than ten of his works have been translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin, the distinguished translators of Nobel Prize-winning literature. Research centers devoted to his work have been established at Ningbo University and Central South University.
