Daoism in Early China : Huang-Lao Thought in Light of Excavated Texts

This text considers the prevalence of Lao-Zhuang Daoism and Huang-Lao Daoism in late pre-imperial and early imperial Chinese traditional thought. The author uses unique excavated documents and literature to explore the Huang-Lao tradition of Daoist philosophy, which exerted a great influence on China ancient philosophy and political theories, from the Pre-Qin period to the Wei-Jin periods. It explains the original and significance of Huang-Lao Daoism, its history and fundamental characteristics, notably discussing the two sides of Huang-Lao, namely the role and function of Lao Zi and the Yellow Emperor, and discusses why the two can constitute a complementary relationship. It also provides a key study of the Mawangdui silk texts, bamboo slips of the Heng Xian, Fan Wu Liu Xing, considering both the theory of human Xing and of Qi.-- Provided by publisher Acknowledgements 5 谢辞 6 Contents 7 Translator’s Introduction 9 1 Introduction: On the Huang-Lao Tradition of Daoist Thought 11 1 Looking at the Basic Characteristics of Huang-Lao Daoism 12 2 Reviewing Past Research and Looking to the Future 19 3 How Does the Idea of a “Huang-Lao Daoist” School Stand up to Scrutiny? 25 4 A Brief Introduction to the Contents of This Book 28 5 Conclusions 34 2 Huang-Lao Daoism Research in Light of Excavated Texts 38 1 Introduction 38 2 Two Types of Theories Regarding Dao and Governance in the Huangdi Sijing 40 3 Early Huang-Lao Thought in Bamboo Manuscripts from the Ancient State of Chu 48 4 Conclusions 59 3 Huang-Lao Thought and Folk Techniques and Calculations: Using Clues from Excavated Texts 61 1 A Look Back at Previous Studies 61 2 Techniques and Calculations in Textual Images of the Yellow Emperor 65 3 The Relationships Between the Concepts of “Forms and Names” and “Forms/Punishment and Virtue/Bounty” and Techniques and Calculations 75 4 Linguistic Characteristics of Techniques and Calculations in Huang-Lao Texts 90 5 Conclusion 94 4 The Literary Structure and Characteristics of the Thought in the Bamboo Manuscript Known as All Things Flow into Forms (Fanwu Liuxing) 95 1 Introduction 95 2 The Literary Structure of the Fanwu Liuxing 97 3 The Characteristics of Thought in the Fanwu Liuxing 117 4 Some Last Observations 129 5 From Auto-Creation to Autonomy: An Analysis of Political Philosophy in the Hengxian 132 1 Introduction 132 2 Past Research 134 3 Self-generation from Pre-Qin, Throughout Qin to the Han Dynasties 140 4 The Parallel Between the Sections of the Hengxian 155 5 Concluding Remarks 161 6 The Idea of Names or Naming as One of the Key Concepts in the Huangdi Sijing: Discussing the Relationship Between the Concepts of the Schools of Dao, Names and Legality 162 1 Preface 162 2 The Kinds of Names Seen in the Huangdi Sijing 167 3 Surveying Names (審名) in the Huangdi Sijing 184 4 The Relationship Between Ruler and Names 195 5 The Relationship Between Names and Law 206 6 Conclusion 213 Bibliography 214 Index 225 Annotation This text considers the prevalence of Lao-Zhuang Daoism and Huang-Lao Daoism in late pre-imperial and early imperial Chinese traditional thought. The author uses unique excavated documents and literature to explore the Huang-Lao tradition of Daoist philosophy, which exerted a great influence on China ancient philosophy and political theories, from the Pre-Qin period to the Wei-Jin periods. It explains the original and significance of Huang-Lao Daoism, its history and fundamental characteristics, notably discussing the two sides of Huang-Lao, namely the role and function of Lao Zi and the Yellow Emperor, and discusses why the two can constitute a complementary relationship. It also provides a key study of the Mawangdui silk texts, bamboo slips of the Heng Xian, Fan Wu Liu Xing, considering both the theory of human Xing and of Qi Front Matter ....Pages i-x Introduction: On the Huang-Lao Tradition of Daoist Thought (Feng Cao)....Pages 1-27 Huang-Lao Daoism Research in Light of Excavated Texts (Feng Cao)....Pages 29-51 Huang-Lao Thought and Folk Techniques and Calculations: Using Clues from Excavated Texts (Feng Cao)....Pages 53-86 The Literary Structure and Characteristics of the Thought in the Bamboo Manuscript Known as All Things Flow into Forms (Fanwu Liuxing) (Feng Cao)....Pages 87-123 From Auto-Creation to Autonomy: An Analysis of Political Philosophy in the Hengxian (Feng Cao)....Pages 125-154 The Idea of Names or Naming as One of the Key Concepts in the Huangdi Sijing: Discussing the Relationship Between the Concepts of the Schools of Dao, Names and Legality (Feng Cao)....Pages 155-206 Back Matter ....Pages 207-227