Taoist philosophy

Taoist philosophy (Chinese: 道學; pinyin: Dàoxué; lit. 'study of the Tao') also known as Taology refers to
the various philosophical currents of Taoism, a tradition of Chinese origin which emphasizes living in
harmony with the Dào (Chinese: 道 ; lit. 'the Way', also romanized as Tao). The Dào is a mysterious and
deep principle that is the source, pattern and substance of the entire universe.[1][2]

Since the initial stages of Taoist thought, there have been varying schools of Taoist philosophy and they
have drawn from and interacted with other philosophical traditions such as Confucianism and Buddhism.
Taoism differs from Confucianism in putting more emphasis on physical and spiritual cultivation and less
emphasis on political organization. Throughout its history, Taoist philosophy has emphasised concepts like
wúwéi ("effortless action"), zìrán (lit. 'self-so', "natural authenticity"), qì ("spirit"), wú ("non-being"), wújí
("non-duality"), tàijí ("polarity") and yīn-yáng (lit. 'bright and dark'), biànhuà ("transformation") and fǎn
("reversal"), and personal cultivation through meditation and other spiritual practices.

While scholars have sometimes attempted to separate "Taoist philosophy" from "Taoist religion", there was
never really such a separation. Taoist texts and the literati and Taoist priests that wrote and commented on
them never made the distinction between "religious" and "philosophical" ideas, particularly those related to
metaphysics and ethics.[3][4]

The principle texts of this philosophical tradition are traditionally seen as the Daodejing, and the Zhuangzi,
though it was only during the Han Dynasty that they were grouped together under the label "Taoist"
(Daojia).[4] The I Ching was also later linked to this tradition by scholars such as Wang Bi.[4] Additionally,
around 1,400 distinct texts have been collected together as part of the Taoist canon (Dàozàng).

Contents
Early sources
Ideas in Taoist classics
Han and Jin Dynasties
Xuanxue
Tang dynasty
Song dynasty
Yuan and Ming dynasties
Qing dynasty and modern China
See also
Notes
References
Bibliography

Early sources
Compared to other philosophical traditions, Taoist
philosophy is quite heterogeneous. According to Russell
Kirkland, "Taoists did not generally regard themselves as
followers of a single religious community that shared a single
set of teachings, or practices."[5] Instead of drawing on a
single book or the works of one founding teacher, Taoism
developed out a widely diverse set of Chinese beliefs and
texts, that over time were gathered together into various
synthetic traditions. These texts had some things in common,
especially ideas about personal cultivation and integration
with what they saw as the deep realities of life.[6] Birth places of notable Chinese
philosophers from Hundred Schools of
The first group consciously identifying itself as "Taoist" Thought in Zhou Dynasty.
(Dàojiào) appeared and began to collect texts during the fifth
century BCE.[7] Their collection of Taoist texts did not
initially include classics typically considered to be "Taoist" like the Tao Te Ching and the Zhuangzi. Only
after a later expansion of the canon did these texts become included.[8]

The legend of the "person" Laozi was developed during the Han dynasty and has no historical validity.[8]
Likewise the labels Taoism and Confucianism were developed during the Han dynasty by scholars to
group together various thinkers, and texts of the past and categorize them as "Taoist", even though they are
quite diverse and their authors may never have known of each other.[9] Thus, while there was never a
coherent "school" of "classical Taoism" during the pre-Han eras, later self identified Taoists (c. 500 BCE)
were influenced by streams of thought, practices and frameworks inherited from the period of the hundred
schools of thought (6th century to 221 BCE).[10] According to Russell Kirkland, these independent
influences include:[11]

Mohism, which might have influenced the Taoist idea of "great peace" (tàipíng) seen in later
works like the Taipingjing
Several divergent Confucian schools and their ideas of personal cultivation and Dào.
Several Legalist theorists, such as Shen Buhai, who spoke of Dào and wúwéi, and Han Fei,
whose work explicates some parts of the Daodejing.
The School of Naturalists who produced the ideas of yīn and yáng and the “Five Phases”
(wǔxíng).
Ideas associated with official practitioners of divination and the I Ching
Early versions of independent texts like the Neiye, the Lüshi Chunqiu, the Zhuangzi, and the
Daodejing.

Ideas in Taoist classics

The Daodejing (also known as the Laozi after its purported author, terminus ante quem 3rd-century BCE)
has traditionally been seen as the central and founding Taoist text, though historically, it is only one of the
many different influences on Taoist thought, and at times, a marginal one at that.[12] The Daodejing
changed and developed over time, possibly from a tradition of oral sayings, and is a loose collection of
aphorisms on various topics which seek to give the reader wise advice on how to live and govern, and also
includes some metaphysical speculations.[13] The Daodejing prominently refers to a subtle universal
phenomenon or cosmic creative power called Dào (literally "way" or "road"), using feminine and maternal
imagery to describe it.[14] Dào is the natural spontaneous way that things arise and exist, it is the "organic
order" of the universe. The Daodejing distinguishes between the ‘named Dào’ and the ‘true Dào’ which
cannot be named (wúmíng 無名 ) and cannot be captured by language.[3]
The Daodejing also mentions the concept of wúwéi (effortless action),
which is illustrated with water analogies (going with the flow of the
river instead of against) and "encompasses shrewd tactics—among
them “feminine wiles”— which one may utilize to achieve
success".[15] Wúwéi is associated with yielding, minimal action and
softness. Wúwéi is the activity of the ideal sage (shèng-rén), who
spontaneously and effortlessly express dé (virtue), acting as one with
the universal forces of the Dào, resembling children or un-carved
wood (pu).[3] They concentrate their internal energies, are humble,
pliable and content and move naturally without being restricted by the
structures of society and culture.[3] The Daodejing also provides
advice for rulers, such as never standing out, keeping weapons but not
using them, keeping the people simple and ignorant and working in
Bagua diagram from Zhao
subtle unseen ways instead of forceful ones.[3] It has generally been
趙撝謙
Huiqian's ( ) Liushu benyi
seen as promoting minimal government. (六書本義 , c. 1370s).

Like the Daodejing, the lesser known Neiye is short wisdom sayings
修 心
text. However, the Neiye focuses on Taoist cultivation (xiū, ) of the heartmind (xīn, ), which involves
the cultivation and refinement of the three treasures: jīng (“vital essence”), qì (“spirit”), and shén
(“soul”).[16] The Neiye's idea of a pervasive and unseen "spirit" called qì and its relationship to acquiring dé
(virtue or inner power) was very influential for later Taoist philosophy. Similarly, important Taoist ideas
性
such as the relationship between a person's xìng (“inner nature”, ) and their mìng (“personal fate”, ) 命
can be found in another lesser known text called the Lüshi Chunqiu.[17] In these texts, as well as in the
Daodejing, a person who acquires dé and has a balanced and tranquil heartmind is called a shèng-rén
(“sage”).[18] According to Russell Kirkland:

The “heart/mind” is the ruling agency within an individual’s biospiritual nexus, i.e., in the
entire personal complex of body/mind/heart/spirit. The Neiye’s principal teaching is that a
person should work constantly to ensure that his/her “heart/mind” is balanced and tranquil—
without excessive cogitation or emotion. If one maintains a tranquil “heart/ mind,” one will
become a receptor of life’s healthful energies, and will be able to retain them and live a long
life.[18]

Another text called the Zhuangzi is also seen as a classic of Taoism though it was also often a marginal
work for Chinese Taoists.[19] It contains various ideas such as the idea that society and morality is a relative
cultural construct, and that the sage is not bound by such things and lives, in a sense, beyond them.[20] The
Zhuangzi's vision for becoming a sage requires one to empty oneself of conventional social values and
cultural ideas and to cultivate wúwéi.[3] Some scholars see primitivist ideas in the Zhuangzi, advocating a
return to simpler forms of life.[21]

According to Kirkland what these three texts have in common is the idea that "one can live one’s life
wisely only if one learns how to live in accord with life’s unseen forces and subtle processes, not on the
basis of society’s more prosaic concerns".[15] These subtle forces include qí, shén, and Dào.

Later Taoists incorporated concepts from the I Ching, like tiān (heaven). According to Livia Kohn, tiān is
"a process, an abstract representation of the cycles and patterns of nature, a nonhuman force that interacted
closely with the human world in a nonpersonal way."[22]

Han and Jin Dynasties

The term Daojia (usually translated as "philosophical Taoism") was coined during the Han Dynasty (206
BCE–220 CE) by scholars and bibliographers to refer to a grouping of classic texts like the Daodejing and
the Zhuangzi.[4] Though there were no self termed "Taoists" during the Han dynasty, ideas which were
later important to "Taoists" can be seen in Han texts such as the Huainanzi and the Taipingjing. For
example, according to the Taipingjing, the ideal ruler maintains an "air" (qí) of "great peace" (tàipíng)
through the practice of wúwéi, meditation, longevity practices such as breath control and medicinal
practices like acupuncture.[23] There also commentaries written on the classics, the earliest commentary on
the Daodejing is that of Heshang Gong (the "Riverside Master").[24]

Another influence to the development of later Taoism was Huáng-Lǎo (literally: "Yellow [Emperor] Old
[Master]"), one of the most influential Chinese school of thought in the early Han dynasty (2nd-century
BCE).[25] It was a syncretist philosophy which brought together texts and elements from many schools.
Huang–Lao philosophy was favoured at the Western Han, before the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87
BCE) who made Confucianism the official state philosophy. These intellectual currents helped inspire
several new social movements such as the Way of the Celestial Masters which would later influence Taoist
thought.

The fourth century saw major developments such as the rise of new spiritual traditions like the Shangqing
("Supreme Clarity") and Lingbao ("Numinous Treasure") with new scriptures and practices such as
alchemy and visualization meditations as a way of moral and spiritual refinement.[26] It was the Lingbao
school who also developed the ideas of a great cosmic deity as a personification of the Tao and a heavenly
order with Mahayana Buddhist influences.[27] The Shangqing school is the beginning of the Taoist
tradition known as “inner alchemy” (neidan), a form of physical and spiritual self cultivation.[3]

It was in the later fifth century that an aristocratic scholar called Lu Xiujing (406–477) drew on all these
disparate influences to shape and produce a common set of beliefs, texts and practices for what he called
"the teachings of the Tao” (Dàojiào).[27] In the north, another influential figure, Kou Qianzhi (365–448),
reformed the celestial master school, producing a new ethical code.

Xuanxue

Xuanxue (lit. "mysterious" or "deep" learning, sometimes called Neo-Taoism) was an important school of
thought from the 3rd to 6th-century CE. Xuanxue philosophers combined elements of Confucianism and
Taoism to reinterpret the Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi. Influential Xuanxue scholars include Wang Bi
(226–249), He Yan (d. 249), Xiang Xiu (223?–300, part of the famous intellectual group known as the
Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove), Guo Xiang (d. 312), and Pei Wei (267–300).[3]

Thinkers like He Yan and Wang Bi set forth the theory that everything, including yīn and yáng and the
virtue of the sage, “have their roots" in wú (nothingness, negativity, not-being).[28] What He Yan seems to
mean by wú can be variously described as formlessness and undifferentiated wholeness. Wu is property-
less and yet full and fecund.[28]

Wang Bi's commentary has traditionally been the most influential philosophical commentary on the
Daodejing. Like He Yan, Wang Bi focuses on the concept of wú (non-being, nothingness) as the nature of
the Tao and underlying ground of existence.[29] Wang Bi's view of wú is that it is "not being as a necessary
basis of being". For being to be possible, there must be not-being, and as the Daodejing states, “Dao gives
birth to [shēng] one” and “all things in the world are born of something (yǒu); something is born of nothing
(wú)”. Wang Bi's account focuses on this foundational aspect of not-being.[28] According to Livia Kohn,
for Wang Bi "nonbeing is at the root of all and needs to be activated in a return to emptiness and
spontaneity, achieved through the practice of nonaction, a decrease in desires and growth of humility and
tranquility".[29] Another critical concept for Xuanxue philosophers is zìrán (lit. 'self-so', natural
authenticity).[28]

Guo Xiang is also another influential Xuanxue thinker. In his commentary to the Zhuangzi, he rejected that
wu was the source of the generation of beings, instead arguing for spontaneous “self-production” (zìshēng
自生 ) and “self-transformation” (zìhuà 自化 ) or “lone-transformation” (dúhuà 獨化 ):

“Because wu [by definition] is not being, it cannot produce being. Prior to the coming to be of
being, it cannot produce other beings. In that case, then, who or what brought about the birth
of being? [The answer can only be that] beings are spontaneously self-generated”[28]

Another key figure, Taoist alchemist Ge Hong (c. 283–343) was an aristocrat and government official
during the Jin Dynasty who wrote the classic known as the Baopuzi ("Master Embracing Simplicity"), a
key Taoist philosophical work of this period.[3] This text includes Confucian teachings and also spiritual
practices meant to aid in attaining immortality and a heavenly state called "great clarity", which had great
influence on later Taoism.[30]

A later Xuanxue thinker, Zhang Zhan (c. 330–400), is known particularly for his commentary on the
Liezi.[28] During the Northern and Southern Dynasties (420–589), Xuanxue reached the height of influence
as it was admitted into the official curriculum of the imperial academy.[28]

Tang dynasty
By Tang dynasty times (618–907 CE), a common sense of a "Taoist identity" had
developed (which Tang leaders called Dàojiào, "teachings of the Tao"), partly by
the efforts of systematisers like Lu Xiujing and also due to the need to compete
against Buddhism for imperial patronage.[31] This synthetic system is sometimes
called the Three Caverns. They collected the first Taoist canon, often called “The
Three Arcana” (san-dong,
[31]
三洞 ), which did not originally include the
Daodejing. Taoism also gained official status in China during the Tang
Dynasty, whose emperors claimed Laozi as their relative.[32] The Gaozong
經
Emperor even added the Daodejing to the list of classics (jīng, ) to be studied
for the imperial examinations.[33] This was the height of Taoist influence in
Chinese history.

Sima Chengzhen (647—735 CE) is an important intellectual figure of this period.

He is especially known for blending Taoist, and Buddhist theories and forms of
mental cultivation in the Taoist meditation text called the Zuowanglun. He also Sima Chengzhen
served as an adviser to the Tang government.[31] He was later retroactively
appropriated as a patriarch of the Quanzhen school.[34]

Another key Taoist writer and thinker of this period is Du Guangting (850—933 CE), he produced an
influential commentary on the Daodejing as well as numerous expositions of other scriptures and histories.
Likewise, Taoist master Cheng Xuanying (fl. 631–652 CE) wrote an influential commentaries on the
Daodejing and Zhuangzi.

Song dynasty
The Song dynasty (960–1279) era saw the foundation of the
Quanzhen (Complete perfection or Integrating perfection)
school of Taoism during the 12th century among followers of
Wang Chongyang (1113–1170), a scholar who wrote various
collections of poetry and texts on living a Taoist life who
taught that the "three teachings" (Buddhism, Confucianism,
Taoism), "when investigated, prove to be but one school".
The Quanzhen school was syncretic, combining elements
from Buddhism (such as monasticism) and Confucianism Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism are
with past Taoist traditions.[3] one, a painting in the litang style portraying
three men laughing by a river stream, 12th
Neidan, a form of internal alchemy, became a major century, Song dynasty.
emphasis of the Quanzhen sect. Wang Chongyang taught
that “immortality of the soul” (shén-xiān, 神仙 ) can be
性
attained within this life by entering seclusion, cultivating one's “internal nature” (xìng, ), and harmonizing
them with one's “personal fate” (mìng-yùn, 命運 )."[35] He taught that, by mental training and asceticism
through which one reaches a state of no-mind (wú-xīn, 無心 ) and no-thoughts, attached to nothing, one can
recover the primordial, deathless "radiant spirit" or "true nature" (yáng-shén陽神 , zhēn-xìng真性 ).[36][a]

According to Stephen Eskildsen, Wang Chongyang appears to have been familiar with and influenced by
Mahayana Buddhist texts like the Diamond sutra as well as Chan texts, however:

Wang Zhe did not abide by the thoroughgoing negation and non-assertion of Mahayana
Buddhist philosophy. Fond as he was of borrowing Buddhist language to preach detachment
from this provisional, fleeting world of samsara, Wang Zhe ardently believed in the eternal,
universal Real Nature/Radiant Spirit that is the ground and wellspring of consciousness (spirit
[shén], Nature [xíng]), and vitality (qì, Life [mìng]) within all living beings. This to him was
not “empty” (lacking inherent existence); it was fully Real (zhēn).[37]

One Quanzhen master, Qiu Chuji, became a teacher of Genghis Khan before the establishment of the Yuan
Dynasty. Originally from Shanxi and Shandong, the sect established its main center in Beijing's
Baiyunguan ("White Cloud Monastery").[38] Several Song emperors, most notably Huizong, were active in
promoting Taoism, collecting Taoist texts and publishing editions of the Daozang.

Yuan and Ming dynasties

The Yuan and Ming government meanwhile often attempted to control and regulate Taoism. Taoism
suffered a significant setback during the reign of Kublai Khan when many copies of the Daozang were
ordered burned in 1281.[3] This destruction gave Taoism a chance to renew itself.[39] Chinese Taoists
during the 12–14th centuries engaged in a revaluation of their tradition, dubbed by some a "reformation",
which focused on individual cultivation.[40]

During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), the state promoted the notion that “the Three Teachings
(Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism) are one”, an idea which over time became popular consensus.[41]
The current Taoist textual canon, called the Daozang, was compiled during the Ming Dynasty (1368–
1644).[42] Moreover, during the Ming dynasty, Taoist ideas also influenced Neo-Confucian thinkers like
Wang Yangming and Zhan Ruoshui.[43]

Qing dynasty and modern China

The late Ming and early Qing dynasty saw the rise of the Longmen ("Dragon Gate" 龍門 ) school of
[44]
Taoism, founded by Wang Kunyang (d. 1680) which reinvigorated the Quanzhen tradition. Longmen
Taoist writers such as Liu Yiming (1734–1821) also simplified Taoist “Inner Alchemy” practices making
more accessible to the public by removing much of the esoteric symbolism of medieval texts.[45] It was Min
Yide (1758–1836) though that became the most influential figure of the Longmen lineage, as he was the
main compiler of the Longmen Daozang xubian and doctrine.[44] It was Min Yide who also made the
famous text known as The Secret of the Golden Flower along with its emphasis on internal alchemy, the
central doctrinal scripture of the Longmen tradition.[44]

The fall of the Ming Dynasty was blamed by some Chinese literati on Taoist influences and therefore they
sought to return to a pure form of Han Confucianism during a movement called Hanxue, or "Han
Learning" which excluded Taoism.[46] The study and practice of Taoist philosophy saw a steep decline in
the more tumultuous times of the later Qing dynasty. By the beginning of the twentieth century, Taoism had
declined considerably, and only one complete copy of the Daozang still remained, at the White Cloud
Monastery in Beijing.[47]

Taoism continued to decline during the Nationalist government rule, who saw religions as parasitic and
reactionary and confiscated temples.[48] Taoist decline was accelerated after the rise of the Communist
Party of China. During the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976, many Taoist temples and sites were
damaged and taoist clergy were sent to labour camps.[49]

Persecution of Taoists stopped in 1979, and many Taoists began reviving their traditions.[49] Subsequently,
many temples and monasteries have been repaired and reopened. Taoism is one of five religions recognized
by the PRC, which regulates its activities through the China Taoist Association.[50]

See also
Taoism
Chinese philosophy

Notes
a. “You simply must be of no mind and no thoughts. Do not become attached to anything.
Clearly, serenely, be free of affairs within and without. This is what it means to see your
[Real] Nature.” - Eskildsen (2004), pp. 21, 31

References
1. Pollard, Rosenberg & Tignor (2011), p. 164 12. Kirkland (2004), pp. 53, 67
2. Creel (1982), p. 2 13. Kirkland (2004), pp. 58–59, 63
3. Littlejohn (n.d.) 14. Kirkland (2004), p. 63
4. Hansen (2017) 15. Kirkland (2004), p. 59
5. Kirkland (2004), p. 12 16. Kirkland (2004), pp. 41–42
6. Kirkland (2004), p. 74 17. Kirkland (2004), p. 41
7. Kirkland (2004), p. 16 18. Kirkland (2004), p. 46
8. Kirkland (2004), p. 18 19. Kirkland (2004), p. 68
9. Kirkland (2004), p. 75 20. Kirkland (2004), p. 7
10. Kirkland (2004), p. 23 21. Kohn (2008), p. 37
11. Kirkland (2004), pp. 23–33 22. Kohn (2008), p. 4
23. Kirkland (2004), p. 80
24. Kohn (2000), p. 6
25. HUANG-LAO IDEOLOGY, Indiana
University, History G380 – class text
readings – Spring 2010 – R. Eno,
http://www.indiana.edu/~g380/4.8-Huang-
Lao-2010.pdf
26. Kirkland (2004), p. 85
27. Kirkland (2004), p. 87
28. Chan (2017)
29. Kohn (2008), p. 26
30. Robinet (1997), p. 78; Kirkland (2004),
p. 84
31. Kirkland (2004), p. 90
32. Robinet (1997), p. 184
33. Robinet (1997), p. 185
34. Kirkland (2004), p. 104
35. Kirkland (2004), p. 106
36. Eskildsen (2004), pp. 21, 31
37. Eskildsen (2004), pp. 6–7
38. Robinet (1997), pp. 23–224
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(2004). The Taoist Canon: A Historical
Companion to the Daozang. Chicago:
University of Chicago.