The Contemplative Foundations of Classical Daoism

574 Pages·2021·2.501 MB·English

by  Harold D Roth

The Contemplative Foundations
of Classical Daoism
SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture
—————
Roger T. Ames, editor
The Contemplative Foundations
of Classical Daoism
Harold D. Roth
Cover art: Butterfly Dream of Zhuangzi
Japan, 19th century
Hanging scroll; paste resist on silk
Image and mount: 60 × 149/ in. (152.4 × 36.99 cm)
16
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Promised Gift of Robert T. Singer in honor of
Lynda Resnick, Lenore and Richard Wayne, and Prof. Harold D. Roth

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2021 State University of New York
All rights reserved
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permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Name: Roth, Harold D., author.

Title: The contemplative foundations of classical Daoism / Harold D. Roth, author.
Description: Albany : State University of New York Press, [2021] | Series:
SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture | Includes bibliographical
references and index.

Identifiers: ISBN 9781438482712 (hardcover : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781438482729
(ebook)
Further information is available at the Library of Congress.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To My Teachers
And My Students
指窮於為薪，火傳也，不知其盡也。
Though we can merely point to what seems to be its fuel,
the fire passes on, and we do not know where it ends.
Zhuangzi Chapter 3: “Mastery in Nurturing Vitality”
(Yang sheng zhu 養生主)

Contents
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
Permissions xiii
Introduction 1
Part I
Contemplative Foundations and Textual Methods
Chapter 1 Psychology and Self-Cultivation in Early
Daoistic Thought 21
Chapter 2 Who Compiled the Zhuangzi 莊子? 63

Chapter 3 Redaction Criticism and the Early History

of Daoism 107

Chapter 4 Evidence for Stages of Meditation in Early Daoism 149

Chapter 5 The Yellow Emperor’s Guru: A Narrative Analysis
from Zhuangzi 莊子 11 175

Chapter 6 Revisiting Angus C. Graham’s Scholarship on the

Zhuangzi 莊子 199

vii
viii / Contents
Chapter 7 Daoist Inner Cultivation Thought and the
Textual Structure of the Huainanzi 淮南子 235
Part II
Contemplative Foundations and Philosophical Contexts
Chapter 8 The Laozi 老子 in the Context of Early Daoist
Mystical Praxis 279
Chapter 9 Bimodal Mystical Experience in the “Qi wu lun”
齊物論 of Zhuangzi 莊子 307
Chapter 10 Nature and Self-Cultivation in Huainanzi’s 淮南子
“Yuan Dao” 原道 (Originating in the Way) 325
Chapter 11 The Classical Daoist Concept of Li 理 (Pattern)
and Early Chinese Cosmology 349
Chapter 12 Cognitive Attunement in the Zhuangzi 莊子 377
Chapter 13 Against Cognitive Imperialism: A Call for a
Non-Ethnocentric Approach to Cognitive Science
and Religious Studies 405
Afterword The “Contemplative Hermeneutic” and the
Problem of Zhuangzi’s Inner Chapters 431

Notes 447

Appendix 1: The Chapters of the Zhuangzi 521

Appendix 2: The Chapters of the Huainanzi 523

Index 525
Tables
2.1 The Technical Terminology of the Syncretists 79
2.2 Zhuangzi “Inner Chapter Titles” as Phrases in the Huainanzi 97
2.3 “Textual Shuffling” in Zhuangzi 12 99
3.1 The Structure and Topics of Neiye; “Xinshu, xia” Parallels 120
3.2 The Structure and Topics of “Xinshu, xia”; Neiye Parallels 121
3.3 Rhetorical Emendation in “Xinshu, xia” 125
3.4 Transposition in “Xinshu, xia” 127
3.5.1 Semantic Recontextualization in “Xinshu, xia” Part 1 130
3.5.2 Semantic Recontextualization in “Xinshu, xia” Part 2 132
3.6 Linking Passages in “Xinshu, xia” 133
3.7 Framing in “Xinshu, xia” 136

4.1 Comparative Table of Early Daoist Meditation Stages 170

6.1 Syncretic Daoist Technical Terms in the Lüshi chun qiu 213
6.2 Shared Narratives in Zhuangzi 28 and the Lüshi chun qiu 228

7.1 A Summary of Inner Cultivation Ideas 243

7.2 Distribution and Frequency of Key Inner Cultivation
Terms in the Huainanzi 246

7.3 Inner Cultivation Ideas in the “Root Passages” 257

7.4 Nesting Root-Branch Textual Structures in the Huainanzi 273

ix