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.
