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Huainanzi: The Pinnacle of Classical Daoist Syncretism

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Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy

Part of the book series: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy ((DCCP,volume 6))

Abstract

This Chapter is a comprehensive study of the Huainanzi, which contends that “Careful analysis of its philosophical positions demonstrates the priority it gives to a cosmology and method of self-cultivation found in the Laozi and Zhuangzi, and argues for its not merely being part of a classical Daoist tradition, but the most complex and sophisticated philosophical expression of that tradition.” It also argues that the Huainanzi is primarily Syncretic with a Daoist cosmology and inner cultivation theory as the context for using ideas from the other main intellectual traditions of the Late Warring States and Early Han. The text shares the cosmology of Dao and its de or potency as well as common practices of self-cultivation, but they diverge in applying these ideas to government. However, the Daoist ideals promoted in this text ultimately failed because of the vagaries and political struggles of its time.

I wish to thank my friend and colleague Andrew S. Meyer for his helpful suggestions on the first draft of this article.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The “Techniques of the Mind” is the title of two short texts in the 26-text Guanzi compendium. Together with “Inward Training” and “The Purified Mind,” they constitute a group that in modern scholarship is referred to as the four “Techniques of Mind” works. By the time of the Huainanzi, this phrase was probably used as a general term for what I have called “inner cultivation” practice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Religious Studies, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA

    Harold D. Roth

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  1. Harold D. Roth
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Correspondence to Harold D. Roth .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese University of Hong Kong Dept. Philosophy, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong SAR

    Xiaogan Liu

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Roth, H.D. (2015). Huainanzi: The Pinnacle of Classical Daoist Syncretism. In: Liu, X. (eds) Dao Companion to Daoist Philosophy. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 6. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2927-0_15

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