Early Chinese mysticism : philosophy and soteriology in the Taoist tradition

Resource Information

The work Early Chinese mysticism : philosophy and soteriology in the Taoist tradition represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Boston University Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Early Chinese mysticism : philosophy and soteriology in the Taoist tradition

Title remainder

philosophy and soteriology in the Taoist tradition

Statement of responsibility

Livia Kohn

Creator

• Kohn, Livia, 1956-

Subject

• Misticismo -- Taoismo
• Mysticism -- Taoism
• Mystique -- Chine
• China -- Religion
• Taoisme (Chine)
• Taoist philosophy
• Taoïsme -- Chine -- Histoire
• Philosophie taoïste

Language

eng

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. Book jacket."--Jacket

Cataloging source

DLC

Index

index present

LC call number

BL1923

LC item number

.K64 1991

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography