Xuanxue Neo-Taoism, or Neo-Daoism is the focal school of thought in Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...

 from the third to sixth century CE. Xuanxue philosophers combined elements of Confucianism

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

 and Taoism

Taoism

Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...

 to reinterpret the Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi (book)

The Taoist book Zhuangzi was named after its purported author Zhuangzi, the philosopher. Since 742 CE, when Emperor Xuanzong of Tang mandated honorific titles for Taoist texts, it has also been known as the Nánhuá Zhēnjīng , literally meaning "True Classic of Southern Florescence," alluding to...

.

The name compounds xuan 玄 "black, dark; mysterious, profound, abstruse, arcane," occurs in the first chapter of the Lao-tzu. Xue 學 "study, learn, learning," literally the "learning" or "study" of the "arcane," "mysterious," or "profound." In Modern Standard Chinese usage, xuanxue can mean "neo-Daoism," "Buddhism," "metaphysics," "spiritualism," or "mysticism".

French sinologist Terrien de Lacouperie (1845-1894) believed Neo-Daoism originally developed out of an amalgamation of "wonderism

Wonderism

Wonderism is a term coined by French sinologist Terrien de Lacouperie to differentiate the proto-Daoism of Jixia Academy from the philosophical Daoism of Laozi....

" (or Jixia Academy thought) and the philosophical Daoism of Laozi

Laozi

Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...

.

Two influential Xuanxue scholars were Wang Bi

Wang Bi

Wang Bi , style name Fusi , was a Chinese neotaoist philosopher.-Biography:Wang Bi's most important works are commentaries on Laozi's Dao De Jing and the I Ching. The text of the Dao De Jing that appeared with his commentary was widely considered as the best copy of this work until the discovery of...

 and Guo Xiang

Guo Xiang

Guo Xiang , is credited with the first and most important revision of the text known as the Zhuangzi which, along with the Laozi, forms the textual and philosophical basis of the Taoist school of thought...

, editors and leading commentators on the Daodejing and Zhuangzi, respectively.

External links

• Neo-Taoism, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a freely-accessible online encyclopedia of philosophy maintained by Stanford University. Each entry is written and maintained by an expert in the field, including professors from over 65 academic institutions worldwide...
  
  
• Hsuan-Hsueh (Neo-Taoism), Overview of World Religions
• Contemporary Chinese Studies of XIONG Shili (熊十力) LIU Junping 劉軍平; QIN Ping 秦平