I especially regret missing the discussion of this section of the book
Thu., Dec. 7, 2006, since I read all the essays, and think they really
captured much of what C.S Lewis was about in writing these stories.

I happened across an interesting description of the Eastern idea of Tao
in Michael Sullivan's "The Art of China" which I found on the dollar
shelf at Brattle Books (West street near downtown crossing in Boston).

He tells a Chinese creation legend of Pan Gu, where man's ancestors
were merely fleas on Pan Gu, where "... by comparison with the beauty
and splendor of the world itself, the mountains and valleys, the clouds
and waterfalls, the trees and flowers, which are the visible manifestations
of the workings of the dao, he (man) count's for very little..."
He talks about there being a "sense of 'attunement' in Chinese culture
where ... the highest ideal was always to discover the order
of things and to act in accordance with it."

Fortunately you can read about Pan Gu, and the eloquent description
online at amazon.com - click on "excerpt" after going to this
link, Pan Gu legend starts at 3rd paragraph:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0520218779/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-0779636-6701560#reader-link

Ray