Early Chinese Mysticism: Philosophy and Soteriology in the Taoist Tradition / Edition 1

by Livia Kohn

Overview

Did Chinese mysticism vanish after its first appearance in ancient Taoist philosophy, to surface only after a thousand years had passed, when the Chinese had adapted Buddhism to their own culture? This first integrated survey of the mystical dimension of Taoism disputes the commonly accepted idea of such a hiatus. Covering the period from the Daode jing to the end of the Tang, Livia Kohn reveals an often misunderstood Chinese mystical tradition that continued through the ages. Influenced by but ultimately independent of Buddhism, it took forms more various than the quietistic withdrawal of Laozi or the sudden enlightenment of the Chan Buddhists. On the basis of a new theoretical evaluation of mysticism, this study analyzes the relationship between philosophical and religious Taoism and between Buddhism and the native Chinese tradition. Kohn shows how the quietistic and socially oriented Daode jing was combined with the ecstatic and individualistic mysticism of the Zhuangzi, with immortality beliefs and practices, and with Buddhist insight meditation, mind analysis, and doctrines of karma and retribution. She goes on to demonstrate that Chinese mysticism, a complex synthesis by the late Six Dynasties, reached its zenith in the Tang, laying the foundations for later developments in the Song traditions of Inner Alchemy, Chan Buddhism, and Neo-Confucianism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691020655
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/12/1991
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

	Preface and Acknowledgments	vii
	Introduction: Mysticism: The Chinese Case	3
Chapter 1	Mysticism: Experience, Practice, and Philosophy	17
Chapter 2	The Foundations of Chinese Mysticism	40
Chapter 3	Developments in Commentary Literature	59
Chapter 4	The Immortalization of Philosophical Taoism	81
Chapter 5	Ecstatic Explorations of the Otherworld	96
Chapter 6	The Impact of Buddhism	117
Chapter 7	The Tang Synthesis	139
	Conclusion: Early Chinese Mysticism: An Evaluation	162
	Notes	177
	Glossary	189
	Bibliography	193
	Index	211