Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism: In the Matrix of the Daodejing

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Thomas Michael, Market Analyst (Beijing Normal University, China)

Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism

In the Matrix of the Daodejing

Thomas Michael, Market Analyst (Beijing Normal University, China)

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English

Bloomsbury Academic
30 November 2023

Asian history; Taoism

In Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism, Thomas Michael illuminates the formative early history of the Daodejing and the social, political, religious, and philosophical trends that indelibly marked it.

This book centers on the matrix of the Daodejing that harbors a penetrating phenomenology of the Dao together with a rigorous system of bodily cultivation. It traces the historical journey of the text from its earliest oral circulations to its later transcriptions seen in a growing collection of ancient Chinese excavated manuscripts. It examines the ways in which Huang-Lao thinkers from the Han Dynasty transformed the original phenomenology of the Daodejing into a metaphysics that reconfigured its original matrix, and it explores the success of the Wei-Jin Daoist Ge Hong in bringing the matrix back into its original alignment.

This book is an important contribution to cross-cultural studies, bringing contemporary Chinese scholarship on Daoism into direct conversation with Western scholarship on Daoism. The book also concludes with a discussion of Martin Heidegger’s recognition of the position and value of the Daodejing for the future of comparative philosophy.

By: Thomas Michael Market Analyst (Beijing Normal University China)
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781350236691
ISBN 10: 1350236691
Pages: 288
Publication Date: 30 November 2023
Audience: College/higher education , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Acknowledgements PROLOGUE: APPROACHING THE MATRIX 1. Matrix Side A: Conventions of the Dao 2. Matrix Side B: Yangsheng, According to Ge Hong PART I: YANGSHENG DAOISM AND THE MATRIX 3. Uncovering Yangsheng Daoism 4. The Measurability of Chang 5. The Temporality of Heng PART II: HUANG-LAO DAOISM AND THE MATRIX 6. Yan Zun and Heshang Gong PART III: GE HONG AND THE MATRIX 7. Ge Hong and the Philosophy of the Pristine Dao 8. Ge Hong and Yangsheng Daoism EPILOGUE: YANGSHENG DAOISM AND COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY 9. Heidegger and the Philosophy of the Dao Bibliography Index

Thomas Michael is Associate Professor at the Beijing Normal University, China.

Reviews for Philosophical Enactment and Bodily Cultivation in Early Daoism: In the Matrix of the Daodejing

This book presents a distinctive interpretative framework that uncovers an early yangsheng reading of the Daodejing through the differences between its early phenomenological and the later metaphysical versions. It engages with current literature from West to East to make a rigorous and genuine contribution. --Robin Wang, Professor of Philosophy, Loyola Marymount University, USA Thomas Michael offers a refreshing interpretation of early Daoism as a philosophy for living-well and the practice of nurturing life. He delves into Huang-Lao, Han dynasty Daoism, and the practices of the Daoist alchemist Ge Hong in the Wei dynasty. The book concludes with a comparative study of the Daodejing and the phenomenology of Martin Heidegger. --James D. Sellmann, Professor of Chinese Philosophy, University of Guam, Guam