Evidence for stages of meditation in early Taoism
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies June 1, 1997 DOI: 10.1017/s0041977x00036405 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Early Taoist texts, including Lao-Tzu, Chuang-Tzu, and related works |
| Topics | Meditation |
| Citations | 24 |
| Key points | Argues that breathing meditation was integral to early Taoism, and that the Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu, often read as abstract philosophy, have an experiential basis in meditative practice. Proposes that overlooked texts provide further evidence for meditative stages in the tradition's formative period. |
Abstract
The role of some form of breathing meditation in most of the world's great mystical traditions has long been known, but few have seen much evidence for this in early Taoism. By ‘early Taoism’ I mean the formative stages of the tradition, from its mysterious origins to the completion of theHuai-nan-Tzu (139 B.C.). Perhaps scholars have seen so little evidence of meditative practice in early Taoism because they have tended to focus almost exclusively on its famous foundational works,Lao-Tzu andChuang-Tzu and have, furthermore, tended to treat them as works of abstract philosophy. In my research I have been particularly interested in the experiential basis of the philosophy found in theLao-Tzuand theChuang-Tzuand in a variety of other related texts that have hitherto been generally overlooked as sources for early Taoism. In order to clarify the context for the present investigation of meditative stages, I would like to present briefly the most relevant hypotheses from this research: