Library Catalog
Amazon cover image
Image from Amazon.com

Early Chinese Mysticism : Philosophy and Soteriology in the Taoist Tradition / Livia Kohn.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2021]Copyright date: ©1992Description: 1 online resource (234 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9781400844463
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 299/.514422/09 20
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources:
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION. Mysticism: The Chinese Case -- CHAPTER ONE. Mysticism: Experience, Practice, and Philosophy -- CHAPTER TWO. The Foundations of Chinese Mysticism -- CHAPTER THREE. Developments in Commentary Literature -- CHAPTER FOUR. The Immortalization of Philosophical Taoism -- CHAPTER FIVE. Ecstatic Explorations of the Otherworld -- CHAPTER SIX. The Impact of Buddhism -- CHAPTER SEVEN. The Tang Synthesis -- CONCLUSION. Early Chinese Mysticism: An Evaluation -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary: 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.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION. Mysticism: The Chinese Case -- CHAPTER ONE. Mysticism: Experience, Practice, and Philosophy -- CHAPTER TWO. The Foundations of Chinese Mysticism -- CHAPTER THREE. Developments in Commentary Literature -- CHAPTER FOUR. The Immortalization of Philosophical Taoism -- CHAPTER FIVE. Ecstatic Explorations of the Otherworld -- CHAPTER SIX. The Impact of Buddhism -- CHAPTER SEVEN. The Tang Synthesis -- CONCLUSION. Early Chinese Mysticism: An Evaluation -- Notes -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

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.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)