what two branches has daoism historically been understood to have?

Daoist Philosophy

dao Along with Confucianism, "Daoism" (sometimes called "Taoism") is one of the two cracking indigenous philosophical traditions of China. As an English term, Daoism corresponds to both Daojia ("Dao family" or "school of the Dao"), an early on Han dynasty (c. 100s B.C.E.) term which describes and then-chosen "philosophical" texts and thinkers such as Laozi and Zhuangzi, and Daojiao ("didactics of the Dao"), which describes various so-called "religious" movements dating from the late Han dynasty (c. 100s C.E.) onward. Thus, "Daoism" encompasses thought and practise that sometimes are viewed equally "philosophical," equally "religious," or every bit a combination of both. While modern scholars, especially those in the Due west, have been preoccupied with classifying Daoist fabric every bit either "philosophical" or "religious," historically Daoists themselves accept been uninterested in such categories and dichotomies. Instead, they have preferred to focus on agreement the nature of reality, increasing their longevity, ordering life morally, practicing rulership, and regulating consciousness and diet. Key Daoist ideas and concerns include wuwei ("effortless action"), ziran ("naturalness"), how to go a shengren ("sage") or zhenren ("perfected person"), and the ineffable, mysterious Dao ("Way") itself.

What is Daoism?
Classical Sources for Our Understanding of Daoism
Is Daoism a Philosophy or a Religion?
The Daodejing
Fundamental Concepts in the Daodejing
The Zhuangzi
Bones Concepts in the Zhuangzi
Daoism and Confucianism
Daoism in the Han
Celestial Masters Daoism
Neo-Daoism
Shangqing and Lingbao Daoist Movements
Tang Daoism
The Three Teachings
The "Destruction" of Daoism
References and Further Reading

ane. What is Daoism?

Strictly speaking at that place was no Daoism earlier the literati of the Han dynasty (c. 200 B.C.E.) tried to organize the writings and ideas that represented the major intellectual alternatives available. The name daojia, "Dao family" or "school of the dao" was a creation of the historian Sima Tan (d. 110 B.C.Eastward.) in his Shi ji (Records of the Historian) written in the two^nd century B.C.Due east. and subsequently completed by his son, Sima Qian (145-86 B.C.Eastward.). In Sima Qian'due south classification, the Daoists are listed equally one of the 6 Schools: Yin-Yang, Confucian, Mohist, Legalist, School of Names, and Daoists. So, Daoism was a retroactive group of ideas and writings which were already at to the lowest degree one to two centuries old, and which may or may not take been ancestral to various post-classical religious movements, all self-identified as daojiao ("teaching of the dao"), beginning with the reception of revelations from the deified Laozi by the Celestial Masters (Tianshi) lineage founder, Zhang Daoling, in 142 C.E.This article privileges the formative influence of early texts, such as the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, only accepts contemporary Daoists' exclamation of continuity betwixt classical and post-classical, "philosophical" and "religious" movements and texts.

ii. Classical Sources for Our Agreement of Daoism

Daoism does not name a tradition constituted past a founding thinker, even though the mutual conventionalities is that a teacher named Laozi originated the school and wrote its major work, chosen the Daodejing, also sometimes known as the Laozi. The tradition is also called "Lao-Zhuang" philosophy, referring to what are commonly regarded as its two classical and most influential texts: the Daodejing or Laozi (3^rd Cn. B.C.E.) and the Zhuangzi (4^th-three^rd Cn. B.C.East.). However, various streams of thought and practice were passed along by masters (daoshi) before these texts were finalized. There are 2 major source issues to exist considered when forming a position on the origins of Daoism. 1) What evidence is there for behavior and practices later associated with the kind of Daoism recognized by Sima Qian prior to the formation of the two classical texts? ii) What is the best reconstruction of the classical textual tradition upon which after Daoism was based?

With regard to the first question, Isabelle Robinet thinks that the classical texts are just the about lasting evidence of a movement she associates with a ready of writings and practices associated with the Songs of Chu (Chuci), and that she identifies as the Chuci motility. This movement reflects a culture in which male and female masters variously called fangshi, daoshi, zhenren, or daoren expert techniques of longevity and used diet and meditative stillness anto create a way of life that attracted disciples and resulted in wisdom teachings. While Robinet'due south estimation is controversial, there are undeniable connections between the Songs of Chu and afterwards Daoist ideas. Some examples include a coincidence of names of immortals (sages), a delivery to the pursuit of physical immortality, a belief in the epistemic value of stillness and quietude, forbearance from grains, breathing and sexual practices used to regulate internal energy (qi), and the employ of ritual dances that resemble those notwithstanding washed by Daoist masters (the stride of Yu).

In add-on to the controversial connectedness to the Songs of Chu, the Guanzi (350-250 B.C.E.) is a text older than both the Daodejing and probably all of the Zhuangzi, except the "inner chapters" (meet below). The Guanzi is a very of import work of 76 "chapters." Three of the chapters of the Guanzi are called the Neiye, a title which tin mean "inner tillage." The self-cultivation practices and teachings put forward in this fabric may be fruitfully linked to several other important works: the Daodejing; the Zhuangzi; a Han dynasty Daoist work chosen the Huainanzi; and an early commentary on the Daodejing chosen the Xiang'er. Indeed, in that location is a strong meditative trend in the Daoism of late imperial China known every bit the "inner alchemy" tradition and the views of the Neiye seem to be in the background of this movement. Ii other chapters of the Guanzi are called Xin shu (Center-listen volume). The Xin shu connects the ideas of quietude and stillness found in both the Daodejing and Zhuangzi to longevity practices. The idea of dao in these capacity is very much like that of the classical works. Its image of the sage resembles that of the Zhuangzi. It uses the same term (zheng) that Zhuangzi uses for the corrections a sage must brand in his body, the pacification of the heart-heed, and the concentration and control of internal energy (qi). These practices are called "property onto the 1," "keeping the One," "obtaining the One," all of which are phrases also associated with the Daodejing (chs. 10, 22, 39).

The Songs of Chu and Guanzi still represent texts which are themselves creations of actual practitioners of Daoist teachings and sentiments, merely equally exercise the Daodejing and Zhuangzi. Who these persons were we do not know with certainty. It is possible that we practise have the names, remarks, and practices of some of these individuals (daoshi) embodied in the passages of the Zhuangzi. For case, in Chs. one-7 alone, Xu You, Ch.ane; Lianshu, Ch.ane; Ziqi Ch. 2; Wang Ni, Ch. 2; Changwuzi, Ch. 2; Qu Boyu, Ch. 4; Carpenter Shi, Ch. 4; Bohun Wuren, Ch. five; Nu Y, Ch. half-dozen; Sizi, Yuzi, Lizi, Laizi, Ch. 6; Zi Sanghu, Meng Zifan, Zi Qinzan, Ch. half-dozen; Yuzi and Sangzi, Ch. 6; Wang Ni and Putizi, Ch. 7; Jie Yu, Ch. 7; Lao Dan, Ch. 7; Huzi, Ch. 7).

As for a reasonable reconstruction of the textual tradition upon which Daoism is based, we should not try to think of this job then but as determining the relationship between the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi , such as which text was showtime and which came later. These texts are composite. The Zhuangzi, for example, repeats in very similar form sayings and ideas establish in the Daodejing , specially in the essay composing Zhuangzi Chs. 8-10. However, we are not sure whether this means that whomever was the source of this cloth in the Zhuangzi knew the Daodejing and quoted information technology, or if they both drew from a common source, or even if the Daodejing in some way depended on the Zhuangzi. In fact, ane theory about the legendary figure Laozi is that he was created first in the Zhuangzi and later on became associated with the Daodejing. At that place are seventeen passages in which Laozi (a.k.a. Lao Dan) plays a office in the Zhuangzi and he is non mentioned past name in the Daodejing .

Based on what nosotros know now, nosotros could offering the post-obit summary of the sources of early Daoism. Stage 1: Zhuang Zhou's "inner chapters" (chs. 1-seven) of the Zhuangzi (c. 350 B.C.E.) and some components of the Guanzi, including possibly both the Neiye and the Xin shu. Stage Ii: The essay in Chs. 8-10 of the Zhuangzi and some collections of material which represent versions of our final redaction of the Daodejing , as well as Chs. 17-28 of the Zhuangzi representing materials probable gathered past Zhuang Zhou's disciples. Stage Three: the "Xanthous Emperor" (Huang-Lao) manuscripts from Mawangdui and of the Zhuangzi (Chs. 11-19, and 22), and the text known as the Huainanzi (c. 139 B.C.E.).

3. Is Daoism a Philosophy or a Religion?

In the belatedly 1970s Western and comparative philosophers began to point out that an of import dimension of the historical context of Daoism was being disregarded considering the previous generation of scholars had ignored or even disparaged connections betwixt the classical texts and Daoist religious belief and practice not previously thought to have developed until the 2^nd century C.Due east. We have to lay some of the responsibleness for a prejudice against Daoism as a religion and the privileging of its earliest forms as a pure philosophy at the anxiety of the eminent translators and philosophers Wing-Tsit Chan and James Legge, who both spoke of Daoist faith as a degeneration of a pristine Daoist philosophy arising from the time of the Angelic Masters (see beneath) in the late Han catamenia. Chan and Legge were instrumental architects in the West of the view that Daoist philosophy (daojia) and Daoist religion (daojiao) are entirely dissimilar traditions.

Really, our interest in trying to separate philosophy and religion in Daoism is more revealing of the Western frame of reference nosotros apply than of Daoism itself. Daoist ideas fermented among master teachers who had a holistic view of life. These daoshi (Daoist masters) did not compartmentalize practices by which they sought to influence the forces of reality, increase their longevity, have interaction with realities not apparent to our normal fashion of seeing things, and order life morally and by rulership. They offered insights nosotros might call philosophical aphorisms. But they also practid meditative stillness and emptiness to proceeds noesis, engaged in physical exercises to increase the flow of inner energy (qi), studied nature for diet and remedy to foster longevity, practiced rituals related to their view that reality had many layers and forms with whom/which humans could collaborate, wrote talismans and proficient divination, engaged in spellbinding of "ghosts," led small communities, and brash rulers on all these subjects. The masters transmitted their teachings, some of them merely to disciples and adepts, but gradually these teachings became more widely bachelor equally is evidenced in the very creation of the Daodejing and Zhuangzi themselves.

The anti-supernaturalist and anti-dualist agendas that provoked Westerners to separate philosophy and religion, dating at least to the classical Greek period of philosophy was not part of the preoccupation of Daoists. Accordingly, the question whether Daoism is a philosophy or a organized religion is not i we tin can ask without imposing a set of understandings, presuppositions, and qualifications that do non apply to Daoism. But the hybrid nature of Daoism is not a reason to disbelieve the importance of Daoist thought. Quite to the contrary, it may be ane of the most significant ideas classical Daoism can contribute to the study of philosophy in the nowadays age.

4. The Daodejing

The Daodejing (futurity, DDJ) is divided into 81 "chapters" consisting of slightly over v,000 Chinese characters, depending on which text is used. In its received form from Wang Bi (run into below), the two major divisions of the text are the dao jing (chs. one-37) and the de jing (chs. 38-81). Actually, this division probably rests on little else than the fact that the principal concept opening Affiliate 1 is dao (way) and that of Chapter 38 is de (virtue). The text is a collection of brusque aphorisms that were not arranged to develop any systematic argument. The long standing tradition near the authorship of the text is that the "founder" of Daoism, known as Laozi gave it to Yin Xi, the guardian of the laissez passer through the mountains that he used to go from Communist china to the West (i.e., India) in some unknown engagement in the distant past. Merely the text is actually a composite of collected materials, nearly of which probably originally circulated orally perhaps even in unmarried aphorisms or small collections. These were then redacted as someone might string pearls into a necklace. Although D.C. Lau and Michael LaFargue had made preliminary literary and redaction disquisitional studies of the texts, these are still insufficient to generate any consensus most whether the text was equanimous using smaller written collections or who were the probable editors.

For most ii,000 years, the Chinese text used by commentators in Communist china and upon which all except the well-nigh recent Western language translations were based has been called the Wang Bi, afterward the commentator who used a complete edition of the DDJ sometime between 226-249 CE. Although Wang Bi was not a Daoist, his commentary became a standard interpretive guide, and more often than not speaking even today scholars depart from it only when they can make a compelling argument for doing and then. Based on contempo archaeological finds at Guodian in 1993 and Mawangdui in the 1970s we are sure that there were several simultaneously circulating versions of the Daodejing text as early as c. 300 B.C.E.

Mawangdui is the name for a site of tombs discovered almost Changsha in Hunan province. The Mawangdui discoveries consist of ii incomplete editions of the DDJ on silk scrolls (boshu) now just called "A" and "B." These versions have two principal differences from the Wang Bi. Some give-and-take choice divergencies are nowadays. The order of the capacity is reversed, with 38-81 in the Wang Bi coming before chapters 1-37 in the Mawangdui versions. More precisely, the order of the Mawangdui texts takes the traditional 81 capacity and sets them out like this: 38, 39, xl, 42-66, 80, 81, 67-79, 1-21, 24, 22, 23, 25-37. Robert Henricks has published a translation of these texts with extensive notes and comparisons with the Wang Bi under the title Lao-Tzu, Te-tao Ching (1989). Contemporary scholarship associates the Mawangdui versions with a type of Daoism known every bit the Way of the Yellowish Emperor and the Former Master (Huanglao Dao).

The Guodian observe consists of 730 inscribed bamboo slips found near the village of Guodian in Hubei province in 1993. There are 71 slips with material that is as well found in 31 of the 81 chapters of the DDJ and corresponding to Capacity ane-66. It may date as early as c. 300 B.C.E. If this is a correct date, and then the Daodejing was already extant in a written form when the "inner chapters" (see below) of the Zhuangzi were composed. These slips contain more than significant variants from the Wang Bi than do the Mawangdui versions. A complete translation and written report of the Guodian cache has been published by Scott Cook (2013).

5. Fundamental Concepts in the Daodejing

The term Dao means a road, and is oft translated as "the Way." This is because sometimes dao is used as a nominative (that is, "the dao") and other times as a verb (i.e. daoing). Dao is the process of reality itself, the manner things come together, while notwithstanding transforming. All this reflects the deep seated Chinese belief that modify is the near basic character of things. In the Yi jing (Classic of Change) the patterns of this change are symbolized by figures continuing for 64 relations of correlative forces and known as the hexagrams. Dao is the alteration of these forces, most often simply stated as yin and yang. The Xici is a commentary on the Yi jing formed in about the same menstruation every bit the DDJ. Information technology takes the taiji (Cracking Ultimate) every bit the source of correlative modify and associates it with the dao. The contrast is non between what things are or that something is or is not, but between chaos (hundun) and the way reality is ordering (de). Nevertheless, reality is not ordering into one unified whole. It is the ten,000 things (wanwu). In that location is the dao but not "the World" or "the cosmos" in a Western sense.

The Daodejing teaches that humans cannot fathom the Dao, because whatsoever name we give to it cannot capture it. It is beyond what nosotros can express in language (ch.1). Those who experience oneness with dao, known as "obtaining dao," will be enabled to wu-wei . Wu-wei is a hard notion to translate. Yet, it is more often than not agreed that the traditional rendering of information technology as "nonaction" or "no action" is incorrect. Those who wu wei do act. Daoism is non a philosophy of "doing cipher." Wu-wei ways something like "act naturally," "effortless action," or "nonwillful action." The point is that at that place is no need for human being tampering with the flow of reality. Wu-wei should exist our mode of life, because the dao always benefits, information technology does non damage (ch. 81) The way of heaven (dao of tian) is always on the side of good (ch. 79) and virtue (de) comes forth from the dao lone (ch. 21). What causes this natural embedding of good and benefit in the dao is vague and elusive (ch. 35), not even the sages understand information technology (ch. 76). But the world is a reality that is filled with spiritual force, just as a sacred prototype used in religious ritual might be inhabited by numinal ability (ch. 29). The dao occupies the place in reality that is analogous to the part of a family'south firm fix aside for the altar for venerating the ancestors and gods (the ao of the business firm, ch. 62). When we think that life's occurrences seem unfair (a human discrimination), nosotros should remember that sky's (tian) net misses nil, it leaves nothing undone (ch. 37)

A primal theme of the Daodejing is that correlatives are the expressions of the movement of dao. Correlatives in Chinese philosophy are not opposites, mutually excluding each other. They represent the ebb and flow of the forces of reality: yin/yang, male person/female; excess/defect; leading/following; active/passive. As one approaches the fullness of yin, yang begins to horizon and emerge and vice versa. Its teachings on correlation often suggest to interpreters that the DDJ is filled with paradoxes. For example, ch. 22 says, "Those who are crooked volition be perfected. Those who are bent will exist straight. Those who are empty will be full." While these announced paradoxical, they are probably better understood as correlational in meaning. The DDJ says, "straightforward words seem paradoxical," implying, however, that they are non (ch. 78).

What is the image of the ideal person, the sage (sheng ren), or the perfected person (zhen ren) in the DDJ? Well, sages wu-wei , (chs. 2, 63). They deed effortlessly and spontaneously as one with dao and in so doing, they "virtue" (de) without deliberation or volitional challenge. In this respect, they are like newborn infants, who move naturally, without planning and reliance on the structures given to them by civilization and society (ch. 15). The DDJ tells u.s. that sages empty themselves, becoming void of the discriminations used in conventional language and culture. Sages concentrate their internal energies (qi). They clean their vision (ch. x). They manifest naturalness and plainness, becoming like uncarved wood (pu) (ch. 19). They live naturally and gratis from desires rooted in the discriminations that homo lodge makes (ch. 37) They settle themselves and know how to exist content (ch. 46). The DDJ makes use of some very famous analogies to drive home its point. Sages know the value of emptiness every bit illustrated by how emptiness is used in a bowl, door, window, valley or canyon (ch. 11). They preserve the female (yin), meaning that they know how to be receptive to dao and its power (de) and are not unbalanced favoring exclamation and action (yang) (ch. 28). They shoulder yin and comprehend yang, blend internal energies (qi) and thereby accomplish harmony (he) (ch. 42). Those following the dao practice not strive, tamper, or seek to control their own lives (ch. 64). They do non endeavor to assist life forth (ch. 55), or use their heart-heed (xin) to "solve" or "effigy out" life's apparent knots and entanglements (ch. 55). Indeed, the DDJ cautions that those who would endeavor to practise something with the world will fail, they will really ruin both themselves and the earth (ch. 29). Sages do non engage in disputes and arguing, or endeavour to bear witness their point (chs. 22, 81). They are pliable and supple, not rigid and resistive (chs. 76, 78). They are like water (ch. 8), finding their ain place, overcoming the hard and strong by suppleness (ch. 36). Sages act with no expectation of reward (chs. 2, 51). They put themselves last and yet come first (ch. 7). They never brand a display of themselves, (chs. 72, 22). They do not brag or avowal, (chs. 22, 24) and they practise not linger afterward their work is done (ch. 77). They leave no trace (ch. 27). Because they embody dao in practice, they accept longevity (ch. 16). They create peace (ch. 32). Creatures practice not harm them (chs. 50, 55). Soldiers practise not kill them (ch. 50). Heaven (tian) protects the sage and the sage's spirit becomes invincible (ch. 67).

Among the nearly controversial of the teachings in the DDJ are those directly associated with rulers. Recent scholarship is moving toward a consensus that the persons who developed and nerveless the teachings of the DDJ played some role in advising civil administration, just they may also have been practitioners of ritual arts and what we would call religious rites. Be that equally it may, many of the aphorisms directed toward rulers in the DDJ seem puzzling at first sight. According to the DDJ, the proper ruler keeps the people without knowledge, (ch. 65), fills their bellies, opens their hearts and empties them of desires (ch. iii). A sagely ruler reduces the size of the state and keeps the population small-scale. Even though the ruler possesses weapons, they are not used (ch. 80). The ruler does not seek prominence. The ruler is a shadowy presence, never standing out (chs. 17, 66). When the ruler'southward work is washed, the people say they are content (ch. 17). This picture of rulership in the DDJ is all the more interesting when we retrieve that the philosopher and legalist political theorist named Han Feizi used the DDJ equally a guide for the unification of Communist china. Han Feizi was the foremost counselor of the first emperor of Prc, Qin Shihuangdi (r. 221-206 B.C.E.). Yet, it is a pity that the emperor used the DDJ's admonitions to "fill the bellies and empty the minds" of the people to justify his program of destroying all books not related to medicine, astronomy or agronomics. When the DDJ says that rulers proceed the people without knowledge, information technology probably means that they do not encourage human knowledge as the highest grade of knowing simply rather they encourage the people to "obtain oneness with the dao."

6. The Zhuangzi

The second of the two nearly important classical texts of Daoism is the Zhuangzi. This text is a collection of stories and remembered likewise as imaginary conversations. The text is well known for its creativity and adept use of language. Inside the text we find longer and shorter treatises, stories, poetry, and aphorisms. The Zhuangzi may date as early on equally the 4^thursday century B.C.East. and co-ordinate to imperial bibliographies of a later date, the Zhuangzi originally had 52 "chapters." These were reduced to 33 by Guo Xiang in the 3^rd century C.E., although he seems to have had the 52 affiliate text available to him. Ronnie Littlejohn has argued that the later work Liezi may incorporate some passages from the so-called "Lost Zhuangzi" 52 affiliate version. Unlike the Daodejing which is ascribed to the mythological Laozi, the Zhuangzi may actually contain materials from a instructor known as Zhuang Zhou who lived between 370-300 B.C.E. Chapters ane-7 are those most oft ascribed to Zhuangzi himself (which is a title meaning "Master Zhuang") and these are known as the "inner capacity." The remaining 26 chapters had other origins and they sometimes have different points of view from the Inner Chapters. Although there are several versions of how the residuum of the Zhuangzi may be divided, 1 that is gaining currency is Chs. 1-7 (Inner Chapters), Chs. eight-10 (the "Daode" essay), Chs. 11-16 and parts of 18, 19, and 22 (Xanthous Emperor Chapters), and Chs. 17-28 (Zhuang Zhou's Disciples' cloth), with the remains of the text attributable to the terminal redactor.

7. Basic Concepts in the Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi taught that a set of practices, including meditative stillness, helped 1 achieve unity with the dao and go a "perfected person" (zhenren). The fashion to this state is not the result of a withdrawal from life. However, it does require disengaging or emptying oneself of conventional values and the demarcations made past society. In Affiliate 23 of the Zhuangzi, aNanrong Chu inquiring of the character Laozi about the solution to his life'south worries was answered promptly: "Why did yous come with all this crowd of people?" The man looked around and confirmed he was standing alone, merely Laozi meant that his bug were the outcome of all the luggage of ideas and conventional opinions he lugged about with him. This baggage must exist discarded earlier anyone can be zhenren , move in wu-wei and express profound virtue (de ).

Like the DDJ, Zhuangzi also valorizes wu-wei , especially in the Inner Chapters, the Xanthous Emperor sections on rulership, and the Zhuangzi disciples' materials in Ch. 19. For its examples of such living the Zhuangzi turns to analogies of craftsmen, athletes (swimmers), ferrymen, cicada-communicable men, woodcarvers, and even butchers. One of the most famous stories in the text is that of Ding the Butcher, who learned what information technology means to wu wei through the perfection of his craft. When asked about his corking skill, Ding says, "What I care nigh is dao, which goes beyond skill. When I commencement began cutting upwards oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After iii years I no longer saw the whole ox. And now—at present I go at it by spirit and don't look with my eyes. Perception and agreement take come to a cease and spirit moves where it wants. I become along with the natural makeup, strike in the big hollows, guide the pocketknife through the big openings, and follow things as they are. So I never touch the smallest ligament or tendon, much less a main joint. A expert melt changes his pocketknife once a year—because he cuts. A mediocre cook changes his pocketknife in one case a month—because he hacks. I've had this pocketknife of mine for nineteen years and I've cut up thousands of oxen with it, and yet the blade is every bit skilful as though it had just come from the grindstone. At that place are spaces between the joints, and the blade of the knife has really no thickness….[I] move the knife with the greatest subtlety, until—flop! The whole matter comes apart like a clod of earth crumbling to the ground." (Ch. 3, The Surreptitious of Caring for Life) The recurring point of all of the stories in Zhuangzi virtually wu-wei is that such spontaneous and effortless conduct as displayed by these many examples has the same experience as acting in wu-wei. The point is not that wu-wei results from skill evolution. Wu-wei is non a cultivated skill. It is a gift of oneness with dao. The Zhuangzi'southward teachings on wu-wei are closely related to the text's consistent rejection of the use of reason and argument as means to dao (chs. 2; 12, 17, 19).

Persons who exemplify such understanding are chosen sages, zhenren, and immortals. Zhuangzi describes the Daoist sage in such a way every bit to suggest that such a person possesses extraordinary powers. Just as the DDJ said that creatures do not damage the sages, the Zhuangzi also has a passage teaching that the zhenren exhibits wondrous powers, frees people from illness and is able to brand the harvest plentiful (ch.1). Zhenren are "spirit similar" (shen yi), cannot be burned by burn, do non experience cold in the freezing forests, and life and death have no effect on them (ch. 2). Merely how we should take such remarks is non without controversy. To be sure, many Daoist in history took them literally and an entire tradition of the transcendents or immortals (xian) was collected in text and lore.

Zhuangzi is drawing on a set of beliefs about principal teachers that were probably regarded as literal by many, although some think he meant these to be taken metaphorically. For example, when Zhuangzi says that the sage cannot be harmed or made to suffer past anything that life presents, does he mean this to be taken equally proverb that the zhenren is physically invincible? Or, does he mean that the sage has then freed himself from all conventional understandings that he refuses to recognize poverty as any more or less desirable than affluence, to recognize blindness equally worse than sight, to recognize decease as any less desirable than life? Every bit the Zhuangzi says in Chapter One, Gratis and Easy Wandering, "There is nix that tin harm this man." This is also the theme of Chapter 2, On Making All Things Equal. In this chapter people are urged to "make all things i," meaning that they should recognize that reality is one. Information technology is a homo judgment that what happens is beautiful or ugly, right or wrong, fortunate or non. The sage knows all things are i (equal) and does not judge. Our lives are snarled and jumbled so long every bit we brand conventional discriminations, but when we fix them aside, we announced to others as extraordinary and enchanted.

An important theme in the Zhuangzi is the apply of immortals to illustrate various points. Did Zhuangzi believe some persons physically lived forever? Well, many Daoists did believe this. Did Zhuangzi believe that our substance was eternal and only our form changed? Nigh certainly Zhuangzi thought that we were in a constant state of process, changing from ane form into another (see the exchange between Primary Lai and Master Li in Ch. 6, The Dandy and Venerable Teacher). In Daoism, immortality is the result of what may be described equally a wu xing transformation. Wu xing means "5 phases" and it refers to the Chinese understanding of reality co-ordinate to which all things are in some land of combined correlation of qi as wood, fire, water, metal, and earth. This was not exclusively a "Daoist" physics. It underlay all Chinese "science" of the classical period, although Daoists certainly made employ of it. Zhuangzi wants to teach usa how to engage in transformation through stillness, breathing, and feel of numinal power (see ch. half-dozen). And yet, perhaps Zhuangzi's teachings on immortality mean that the person who is gratis of discrimination makes no deviation between life and expiry. In the words of Lady Li in Ch. 2, "How do I know that the expressionless do non wonder why they ever longed for life?"

Huangdi (the Yellow Emperor) is the most prominent immortal mentioned in the text of the Zhuangzi and he is a chief character in the sections of the volume called "the Yellow Emperor Chapters" noted above. He has long been venerated in Chinese history as a cultural exemplar and the inventor of civilized human life. Daoism is filled with other accounts designed to testify that those who learn to live co-ordinate to the according to the dao have long lives. Pengzu, 1 of the characters in the Zhuangzi, is said to have lived 8 hundred years. The well-nigh prominent female immortal is Xiwangmu (Queen Female parent of the West), who was believed to reign over the sacred and mysterious Mount Kunlun.

The passages containing stories of the Yellowish Emperor in Zhuangzi provide a window into the views of rulership in the text. On the one hand, the Inner Capacity (chs. 1-7) reject the function of ruler as a feasible vocation for a zhenren and consistently criticize the futility of government and politics (ch. 7). On the other hand, the Yellow Emperor materials in Chs. 11-13 present rulership as valuable, so long as the ruler is acts by wu-wei. This second position is besides that taken in the work entitled the Huainanzi (see beneath).

The Daoists did not recall of immortality as a gift from a god, or an achievement in the religious sense usually idea of in the West. It was a result of finding harmony with the dao, expressed through wisdom, meditation, and wu-wei. Persons who had such knowledge were reputed to alive in the mountains, thus the graphic symbol for xian (immortal) is fabricated up of 2 components, the one being shan "mountain" and the other being ren "person." Undoubtedly, some removal to the mountains was a part of the journey to condign a zhenren "true person." Because Daoists believed that nature and our own bodies were correlations of each other, they fifty-fifty imagined their bodies every bit mountains inhabited past immortals. The struggle to wu-wei was an effort to become immortal, to exist born anew, to abound the embryo of immortality inside. A part of the disciplines of Daoism included fake of the animals of nature, because they were thought to act without the intention and willfulness that characterized human decision making. Physical exercises included animal dances (wu qin eleven) and movements designed to enable the unrestricted flow of the cosmic life force from which all things are made (qi). These movements designed to channel the menstruum of qi became associated with what came to exist called tai qi or qi gong. Daoists practiced breathing exercises, used herbs and other pharmacological substances, and they employed an instruction booklet for sexual positions and intercourse, all designed to raise the flow of qi energy. They even good external abracadabra, using burners to change the limerick of cinnabar into mercury and made potions to beverage and pills to ingest for the purpose of adding longevity. Many Daoist practitioners died equally a consequence of these alchemical substances, and even a few Emperors who followed their instructions lost their lives too, Qinshihuang being the virtually famous.

The attitude and practices necessary to the pursuit of immortality made this life all the more pregnant. Butcher Ding is a master butcher because his qi is in harmony with the dao. Daoist practices were meant for everyone, regardless of their origin, gender, social position, or wealth. Withal, Daoism was a consummate philosophy of life and not an piece of cake way to acquire.

When superior persons larn the Dao, they do it with zest.

When boilerplate persons acquire of the Dao, they are indifferent.

When petty persons larn of the Dao, they laugh loudly.

If they did not express mirth, it would non be worthy of being the Dao.DDJ, 41

viii. Daoism and Confucianism

Arguably, Daoism shared some emphases with classical Confucianism such as a this-worldly concern for the concrete details of life rather than speculation about abstractions and ideals. All the same, it largely represented an alternative and disquisitional tradition divergent from that of Confucius and his followers. While many of these criticisms are subtle, some seem very articulate.

One of the most fundamental teachings of the DDJ is that human discriminations, such equally those made in law, morality (practiced, bad) and aesthetics (beauty, ugly) actually create the troubles and problems humans experience, they practise not solve them (ch. 3a). The clear implication is that the person following the dao must cease ordering his life according to human-made distinctions (ch. 19). Indeed, it is but when the dao recedes in its influence that these demarcations sally (chs. eighteen; 38), because they are a form of disease (ch. 74). In contrast, Daoists believe that the dao is untangling the knots of life, blunting the sharp edges of relationships and problems, and turning downward the light on painful occurrences (ch. iv). So, it is best to practice wu-wei in all endeavors, to act naturally and not willfully try to oppose or tamper with how reality is moving or try to control it by human being discriminations.

Confucius and his followers wanted to change the globe and exist proactive in setting things directly. They wanted to tamper, orchestrate, plan, educate, develop, and advise solutions. Daoists, on the other paw, take their hands off of life when Confucians want their fingerprints on everything. Imagine this comparison. If the Daoist goal is to become like a slice of unhewn and natural wood, the goal of the Confucians is to become a carved sculpture. The Daoists put the piece before us but equally it is found in its naturalness, and the Confucians smooth it, shape it, and decorate information technology. This line of criticism is made very explicitly in the essay which makes up Zhuangzi Chs. 8-10.

Confucians recollect they tin engineer reality, sympathise information technology, name information technology, control it. Only the Daoists think that such endeavors are the source of our frustration and fragmentation (DDJ, chs. 57, 72). They believe the Confucians create a gulf between humans and nature that weakens and destroys u.s.. Indeed, as far equally the Daoists are concerned, the Confucian project is like a cancer that saps our very life. This is a cardinal difference in how these two great philosophical traditions think persons should approach life, and as shown to a higher place information technology is a consequent departure establish also between the Zhuangzi and Confucianism.

The Yellow Emperor sections of the Zhuangzi in Chs. 12, 13 and 14 contain five text blocks in which Laozi is portrayed in dialogue with Confucius and according to which he is pictured as Confucius' primary and instructor. These materials provide a direct access into the Daoist criticism of the Confucian project.

9. Daoism in the Han

The teachings that were later called Daoism were closely associated with a stream of thought called Huanglao Dao (Yellow Emperor-Laozi Dao) in the 3rd and 2nd cn. B.C.E. The thought earth transmitted in this stream is what Sima Tan meant past Daojia. The Huanglao school is all-time understood as a lineage of Daoist practitioners mostly residing in the state of Qi (modern Shandong surface area). Huangdi was the name for the Yellow Emperor, from whom the rulers of Qi said they were descended. When Emperor Wu, the sixth sovereign of the Han dynasty (r. 140-87 B.C.E.) elevated Confucianism to the status of the official state ideology and training in information technology became mandatory for all bureaucratic officials, the tension with Daoism became more evident. And yet, at court, people nevertheless sought longevity and looked to Daoist masters for the secrets necessary for achieving it. Wu continued to engage in many Daoist practices, including the use of abracadabra, climbing sacred Taishan (Mt. Tai), and presenting talismanic petitions to heaven. Liu An, the Prince of Huainan and a nephew of Wu, is associated with the product of the work called the Masters of Huainan (Huainanzi, 180-122 B.C.E.). This is a highly synthetic piece of work formed at what is known every bit the Huainan university and greatly influenced by Yellow Emperor Daoism. John Major and a team of translators published the start consummate English version of this text (2010). The text was an attempt to merge cosmology, Confucian ethics, and a political theory using "quotes" attributed to the Xanthous Emperor, although the statements really parallel closely the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi. All this is of added significance because in the later Han piece of work, Laozi bin ahua jing (Book of the Transformations of Laozi) the Chinese physics that persons and objects change forms was employed in order to identify Laozi with the Yellow Emperor.

10. Celestial Masters Daoism

Even though Emperor Wu forced Daoist practitioners from court, Daoist teachings found a fertile basis in which to grow in the environment of discontent with the policies of the Han rulers and bureaucrats. Popular uprisings sprouted. The Yellowish Turban movement tried to overthrow Han purple dominance in the name of the Yellowish Emperor and promised to establish the Way of Bang-up Peace (Tai ping). Indeed, the bones moral and philosophical text that provided the intellectual justification of this motility was the Classic of Great Peace (Taiping jing), provided in an English version by Barbara Hendrischke. The present version of this piece of work in the Daoist canon is a later and altered iteration of the original text dating about 166 CE and attributed to transnormal revelations experienced past Zhang Jiao.

Easily the most important of the Daoist trends at the cease of the Han period was the wudou mi dao (Way of Five Bushels of Rice) movement, best known as the Way of the Celestial Masters (tianshi dao). This movement is traceable to a Daoist hermit named Zhang ling, also known as Zhang Daoling, who resided on a mountain nigh modernistic Chengdu in Sichuan. Co-ordinate to an business relationship in Ge Hong's Biographies of Spirit Immortals, Laozi appeared to Zhang (c. 142 CE) and gave him a commission to denote the soon end of the world and the coming age of Great Peace (taiping). The revelation said that those who followed Zhang would get part of the Orthodox One Covenant with the Powers of the Universe (Zhengyi meng wei). Zhang began the movement that culminated in a Celestial Master state. The administrators of this country were chosen libationers (ji jiu), because they performed religious rites, every bit well every bit political duties. They taught that personal illness and civil mishap were owing to the mismanagement of the forces of the body and nature. The libationers taught a strict class of morality and displayed registers of numinal powers they could admission and control. Libationers were moral investigators, standing in for a greater celestial bureaucracy. The Celestial Chief state adult against the groundwork of the refuse of the later Han dynasty. Indeed, when the empire finally decayed, the Celestial Primary government was the only lodge in much of southern China.

When the Wei dynastic rulers became uncomfortable with the Celestial Masters' power, they broke upward the ability centers of the motion. Merely this backfired because it really served to disperse Celestial Masters followers throughout China. Many of the refugees settled near Ten'ian in and around the site of Louguan tai. The movement remained strong because its leaders had assembled a canon of texts [Statutory Texts of the One and Orthodox (Zhengyi fawen)]. This group of writings included philosophical, political, and ritual texts. It became a fundamental part of the subsequently authorized Daoist canon.

11. Neo-Daoism

The resurgence of Daoism afterwards the Han dynasty is oft known equally Neo-Daoism. As a result, Confucian scholars sought to comment and reinterpret their own classical texts to motility them toward greater compatibility with Daoism, and they even wrote commentaries on Daoist works. A new type of Confucianism known but as the Way of Mysterious Learning (Xuanxue) emerged. It is represented by a set of scholars, including some of the near prominent thinkers of the period: Wang Bi (226-249), He Yan (d. 249), Xiang Xiu (223?-300), Guo Xiang (d. 312) and Pei Wei (267-300). In general, these scholars share in mutual an effort to reinterpret the social and moral understanding of Confucianism in ways to brand it more than uniform with Daoist philosophy. In fact, for many interpreters, the extent to which Daoist influence is evident in the texts of these writers has led some scholars to call this movement 'Neo-Daoism.' Wang Bi and Guo Xiang who wrote commentaries respectively on the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, were the about important voices in this development. Traditionally, the famous "7 Sages of the Bamboo Grove" (Zhulin qixian) accept also been associated with the new Daoist way of life that expressed itself in culture and non merely in mountain retreats. These thinkers included landscape painters, calligraphers, poets, and musicians.

Among the philosophers of this menstruation, the great representative of Daoism in southern China was Ge Hong (283-343 CE). He practiced not only philosophical reflection, but too external alchemy, manipulating mineral substances such as mercury and cinnabar in an effort to gain immortality. His piece of work the Inner Capacity of the Main Who Embraces Simplicity (Baopuzi neipian) is the most important Daoist philosophical work of this period. For him, longevity and immortality are not the aforementioned, the one-time is only the first step to the latter.

12. Shangqing and Lingbao Daoist Movements

After the invasion of China by nomads from Central Asia, Daoists of the Angelic Primary tradition who had been living in the north were forced to migrate into southern Mainland china, where Ge Hong's version of Daoism was strong. The mixture of these 2 traditions is represented in the writings of the Xu family. The Xu family was an aristocratic group from what is today the city of Nanjing. Seeking Daoist philosophical wisdom and the long life it promised, many of them moved to Mao Shan Mountain, well-nigh the city. There they claimed to receive revelations from immortals, who dictated new wisdom and morality texts to them. Yang Eleven was the nigh prominent medium recipient of the Maoshan revelations (360-370 CE). These revelations came from spirits who were local heroes named the Mao brothers, but they had been transformed into deities. Yang Xi's writings formed the basis for Highest Purity (Shangqing) Daoism. The writings were extraordinarily well done and fifty-fifty the calligraphy in which they were written was beautiful.

The importance of these texts philosophically speaking is to be institute in their idealization of the quest for immortality and transference of the material practices of the alchemical science of Ge Hong into a form of cogitating meditation. In fact, the Shangqing schoolhouse of Daoism is the beginning of the tradition known equally "inner alchemy" (neidan), an private mystical pursuit of wisdom.

Some thirty years after the Maoshan revelations, a descendent of Ge Hong, named Ge Chaofu went into a mediumistic trance and authored a set of texts chosen the Numinous Treasure (Lingbao ) teachings. These works were ritual recitation texts similar to Buddhist sutras, and indeed they borrowed heavily from Buddhism. At first, the Shangqing and Lingbao texts belonged to the full general stream of the Angelic Masters and were not considered separate sects or movements within Daoism, although after lineages of masters emphasized the uniqueness of their teachings.

13. Tang Daoism

Equally the Lingbao texts illustrate, Daoism acted as a receiving construction for Buddhism. Many early translators of Buddhist texts used Daoist terms to render Indian ideas. Some Buddhists saw Laozi as an avatar of Shakyamuni (the Buddha), and some Daoists understood Shakyamuni as a manifestation of the dao, which also ways he was a manifestation of Laozi. An often made generalization is that Buddhism held n Red china in the quaternary and 5th centuries, and Daoism the s. But gradually this intellectual currency really reversed. Daoism grew in scope and impact throughout Cathay.

Past the fourth dimension of the Tang dynasty (618-906 CE) Daoism was the intellectual philosophy that underwrote the national agreement. The imperial family claimed to descend from Li (by lore, the family of Laozi). Laozi was venerated by royal decree. Officials received Daoist initiation as Masters of its philosophy, rituals, and practices. A major center for Daoist studies was created at Dragon and Tiger Mountain (longhu shan), called both for its feng shui and because of its strategic location at the intersection of numerous southern Cathay merchandise routes. The Celestial Masters who held leadership at Dragon and Tiger Mountain were later on chosen "Daoist popes" by Christian missionaries because they had considerable political power.

In aesthetics, 2 neat Daoist intellectuals worked during the Tang. Wu Daozi developed the rules for Daoist painting and Li Bai became its nearly famous poet. Interestingly, Daoist alchemists invented gunpowder during the Tang. The earliest cake-print book on a scientific subject is a Daoist work entitled Xuanjie lu (850 CE). Equally Buddhism gradually grew stronger during the Tang, Daoist and Confucian intellectuals sought to initiate a conversation with it. The Buddhism that resulted was a reformed version known as Chan (Zen in Japan).

14. The 3 Teachings

During the V Dynasties (907-960 CE) and Song periods (960-1279 CE) Confucianism enjoyed a resurgence and Daoists constitute their identify past teaching that principal thinkers of their tradition were Confucian scholars likewise. About notable among these was Lu Dongbin, a legendary Daoist immortal that many believed was originally a Confucian teacher.

Daoism became a complete philosophy of life, reaching into religion, social activity, and individual health and physical well-being. A huge network of Daoist temples known past the name Dongyue Miao (also called tianqing guan) was created through the empire, with a miao in virtually every town of whatsoever size. The Daoist masters who served these temples were oft appointed as government officials. They as well gave medical, moral, and philosophical advice, and led religious rituals, defended especially to the Lord of the Sacred Mountain of the Due east named Taishan. Daoist masters had wide say-so. All this was obvious in the temple iconography. Taishan was represented as the emperor, the City God (cheng huang) was a high official, and the Earth God was portrayed equally a prosperous peasant. Daoism of this menses integrated the Three Teachings (sanjiao) of Prc: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. This procedure of synthesis continued throughout the Vocal and into the menstruum of the Ming Dynasty.

Such a wide dispersal of Daoist idea and do, taken together with its involvement in merging Confucianism and Buddhism, eventually created a fragmented ideology. Into this confusion came Wang Zhe (1113-1170 CE), the founder of Quanzhen (Consummate Perfection) Daoism. It was Wang's goal to bring the 3 teachings into a single swell synthesis. For the first time, Daoist teachers adopted monastic forms of life, created monasteries, and organized themselves in ways they saw in Buddhism. This version of Daoist idea interpreted the classical texts of the DDJ and the Zhuangzi to phone call for a rejection of the body and material world. The Quanzhen order became powerful as the main partner of the Mongols (Yuan dynasty), who gave their patronage to its expansion. Less often, the Mongol emperors favored the Celestial Masters and their leader at Dragon and Tiger Mountain in an try to undermine the power of the Quanzhen leaders. For case, the Zhengyi (Celestial Master) master of Beijing in the 1220s was Zhang Liusun. Under patronage he was allowed to build a Dongyue Miao in the city in 1223 and make it the unofficial town hall of the capital. But by the time of Khubilai Khan (r. 1260-1294) the Buddhists were used confronting all Daoists. The Khan ordered all Daoist books except the DDJ to be destroyed in 1281, and he closed the Quanzhen monastery in the urban center known equally White Deject Monastery (Baiyun Guan ).

When the Ming (1368-1644) dynasty emerged, the Mongols were expulsed, and Chinese rule was restored. The emperors sponsored the creation of the start complete Daoist Catechism (Daozang), which was edited between 1408 and 1445. This was an eclectic collection, including many Buddhist and Confucian related texts. Daoist influence reached its zenith.

15. The "Destruction" of Daoism

The Manchurian tribes that became rulers of Red china in 1644 and founded the Qing dynasty were already under the influence of conservative Confucian exiles. They stripped the Celestial Master of Dragon Tiger Mountain of his power at courtroom. Simply Quanzhen was tolerated. White Cloud Monastery (Baiyun Guan )) was reopened, and a new lineage of thinkers was organized. They called themselves the Dragon Gate lineage (Longmen pai). In the 1780s, the Western traders arrived, and then did Christian missionaries. In 1849, the Hakka people of Guangxi province, among China's poorest citizens, rose in revolt. They followed Hong Xiuquan, who claimed to exist Jesus' younger brother. This millennial motility congenital on a strange version of Chinese Christianity sought to establish the Heavenly Kingdom of Peace (taiping). As the Taiping swept throughout southern People's republic of china, they destroyed Buddhist and Daoist temples and texts wherever they establish them. The Taiping army completely raised the Daoist complexes on Dragon Tiger Mountain. During most of the 20th century the drive to eradicate Daoist influence has continued. In the 1920s, the "New Life" motility drafted students to go out on Sundays to destroy Daoist statues and texts. Accordingly, by the year 1926 only two copies of the Daoist Canon (Daozang) existed and Daoist philosophical heritage was in great jeopardy. But permission was granted to copy the canon kept at the White Cloud Monastery, and and then the texts were preserved for the world. There are 1120 titles in this collection in 5,305 volumes. Much of this cloth has still to receive scholarly attention and very piddling of information technology has been translated into whatsoever Western language.

The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) attempted to complete the destruction of Daoism. Masters were killed or "re-educated." Entire lineages were broken upwards and their texts were destroyed. The miaos were closed, burned, and turned into military billet. At one time, at that place were 300 Daoist sites in Beijing lonely, now there are just a scattering. Withal, Daoism is not expressionless. It survives as a vibrant philosophical system and mode of life as is evidenced past the revival of its exercise and report in several new University institutes in the People'south Commonwealth.

sixteen. References and Further Reading

Ames, Roger and Hall, David. (2003). Daodejing: "Making This Life Significant" A Philosophical Translation. New York: Ballantine Books.
Ames, Roger. (1998). Wandering at Ease in the Zhuangzi. Albany: State Academy of New York Press.
Bokenkamp, Stephen R. (1997). Early Daoist Scriptures. Berkeley: Academy of California Press.
Boltz, Judith Yard. (1987). A Survey of Taoist Literature: Tenth to Seventeenth Centuries, Communist china Research Monograph 32. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Chan, Alan. (1991). Ii Visions of the Fashion: A Translation and Written report of the Heshanggong and Wang Bi Commentaries on the Laozi. Albany: Country University of New York Printing.
Cook, Scott (2013). The Bamboo Texts of the Guodian: A Study & Complete Translation. New York: Cornell Academy Eastern asia Plan.
Coutinho, Steve (2014). An Introduction to Daoist Philosophies.New York: Columbia University Press.
Creel, Herrlee Yard. (1970). What is Taoism? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mark and Ivanhoe, Philip J., eds. (1999). Religious and Philosophical Aspects of the Laozi. Albany: Country University of New York.
Girardot, Norman J. (1983). Myth and Meaning in Early Taoism: The Theme of Chaos (hun-tun). Berkeley: University of California Press.
Graham, Angus. (1981). Chuang tzu: The Inner Chapters. London: Allen & Unwin.
Graham, Angus. (1989). Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Statement in Ancient China. La Salle, IL: Open Court.
Graham, Angus. (1979). "How much of the Chuang-tzu Did Chuang-tzu Write?" Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 47, No. 3.
Hansen, Chad (1992). A Daoist Theory of Chinese Idea. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hendrischke, Barbara (2015, reprint ed.). The Scripture on Dandy Peace: The Taiping jing and the Beginnings of Daoism. Berkeley: The University of California Press.
Henricks, Robert. (1989). Lao-Tzu: Te-Tao Ching. New York: Ballantine.
Hochsmann, Hyun and Yang Guorong, trans. (2007). Zhuangzi. New York: Pearson.
Ivanhoe, Philip J. (2002). The Daodejing of Laozi. New York: Seven Bridges Press.
Kjellberg, Paul and Ivanhoe, Philip J., eds. (1996) Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the Zhuangzi. Albany: Land University of New York.
Kleeman, Terry (1998). Nifty Perfection: Religion and Ethnicity in a Chinese Millenial Kingdom. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Printing.
Kohn, Livia, ed. (2004). Daoism Handbook, 2 vols. Boston: Brill.
Kohn, Livia (2009). Introducing Daoism. London: Routledge.
Kohn, Livia (2014). Zhuangzi: Text and Context.St. petersburg: Three Pines Press.
Kohn, Livia and LaFargue, Michael., eds. (1998). Lao-tzu and the Tao-te-ching. Albany: State University of New York Press.
Kohn, Livia and Roth, Harold., eds. (2002). Daoist Identity: History, Lineage, and Ritual. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Komjathy, Louis (2014). Daoism: A Guide for the Perplexed. London: Bloomsbury.
LaFargue, Michael. (1992). The Tao of the Tao-te-ching. Albany: State University of New York Printing.
Lin, Paul J. (1977). A Translation of Lao-tzu's Tao-te-ching and Wang Pi's Commentary. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan.
Lau, D.C. (1982). Chinese Classics: Tao Te Ching. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Printing.
Littlejohn, Ronnie (2010). Daoism: An Introduction. London: I.B. Tauris.
Littlejohn, Ronnie (2011). "The Liezi's Use of the Lost Zhuangzi." Riding the Air current with Liezi: New Perspectives on the Daoist Classic. Eds. Ronnie Littlejohn and Jeffrey Dippmann. Albany: State University of New York.
Lynn, Richard John. (1999). The Classic of the Mode and Virtue: A New Translation of the Tao-Te Ching of Laozi as Interpreted by Wang Bi. New York: Columbia Academy Printing.
Mair, Victor, ed. (2010). Experimental Essays on Zhuangzi. Saint petersburg: Three Pines Press. New edition of University of Hawai'i, 1983.
Mair, Victor. (1990). Tao Te Ching: The Classic Book of Integrity and the Fashion. New York: Bantam Press.
Mair, Victor (1994). Wandering on the Way: Early Taoist Tales and Parables of Chuang Tzu. Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.
Major, John, Queen, Sarah, Set Meyer, Andrew, and Roth, Harold, trans. (2010). The Huainanzi: A Guide to the Theory and Practice of Government in Early Han China. New York: Columbia University Press.
Maspero, Henri. (1981). Taoism and Chinese Religion. Amherst: Academy of Massachusetts Press.
Miller, James (2003). Daoism: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford Academy Press.
Moeller, Hans-Georg (2004). Daoism Explained: From the Dream of the Butterfly to the Fishnet Allegory. Chicago: Open up Courtroom.
Robinet, Isabelle. (1997). Taoism: Growth of a Organized religion. Stanford: Stanford Academy Press.
Roth, Harold (1999). Original Tao: Inward Preparation (Nei-yeh) and the Foundations of Taoist Mysticism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Roth, Harold D. (1992). The Textual History of the Huai Nanzi. Ann Arbor: Association of Asian Studies.
Roth, Harold D. (1991). "Who Compiled the Chuang Tzu?" In Chinese Texts and Philosophical Contexts, ed. Henry Rosemont, 84-95. La Salle: Open Court.
Schipper, Kristofer. (1993). The Taoist Body Berkeley: University of California Printing.
Slingerland, Edward, (2003). Effortless Action: Wu-Wei As Conceptual Metaphor and Spiritual Ideal in Early on Mainland china. New York: Oxford University Press.
Waley, Arthur (1934). The Way and Its Power: A Report of the Tao Te Ching and its Identify in Chinese Thought. London: Allen & Unwin
Watson, Burton. (1968). The Complete Works of Chuang Tzu. New York: Columbia University Press
Welch, Holmes. (1966). Taoism: The Parting of the Way. Boston: Buoy Press.
Welch, Holmes and Seidel, Anna, eds. (1979). Facets of Taoism. New Oasis: Yale University Press.

Writer Information

Ronnie Littlejohn
Electronic mail: ronnie.littlejohn@belmont.edu
Belmont University
U. S. A.

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Source: https://iep.utm.edu/daoismdaoist-philosophy/