Early Chinese Mysticism ─ Philosophy and Soteriology in the Taoist Tradition

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.