The evolution of Xuantong in early Daoist philosophy

ABSTRACT

Xuantong 玄同 (tentatively translated as dark oneness) is a unique Daoist idea that represents an ideally mental and physical state as a result of cultivation. However, owing to limited context in the Laozi, there is no consensus on the interpretation of xuantong. Contemporary studies have also neglected xuantong’s evolution in early texts and assumed a homogeneous understanding, and hence, failed to provide a nuanced account. In this article, I investigate how xuantong evolves from the Guodian Laozi to the Huainanzi and Wenzi. I argue that although xuantong may originate from the Laozi, it is in the Wenzi that a coherent theory of xuantong is accomplished. This theory advocates an orderly process of cultivation that covers internal mental states, external acts, and integration with the whole universe. The cultivation would eventually lead people to adopt an undifferentiated perspective on, and reach oneness with, all things in the universe.

KEYWORDS:

• Xuantong
• oneness
• Dao
• cultivation
• Daoism

Acknowledgement

This article is supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (22BZX044). Early draft of this article benefited from discussion with Dave Chew.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Some scholars have already recognized the significance of xuantong in Daoist philosophy. For example, Chan Wing-Tist says that xuantong is ‘an important one’ in Daoist thought (Chan, 1963, p. 199). Chen Guying, an authority on Daoist philosophy, also suggests that xuantong may be the only idea of the Laozi philosophy that concerns the ideal individual state (rensheng jingjie 人生境界) (Chen, 2006, p. 279).

2. For discussions of these excavated manuscripts, see Henricks (2000, pp. 65–67), and Gao (1996, p. 98).

3. For xuantong in these different transmitted texts, see Guo (2006, p. 353), He (1998, pp. 73, 1120), and Wang (2000, pp. 19, 163, 338, 384). There are different views on the completion time of the transmitted Wenzi, but based on Van Els’s discussion (Van Els, 2018), I assume the time is later than that of the Huainanzi and probably before the fall of Eastern Han 東漢 (220 CE).

4. Xuantong can be translated as ‘mysterious merging’, ‘sublime at-oneness’, ‘becoming one with the abstruse’, ‘mysterious mingling’, and more. See LaFargue (1992, p. 66), Roberts (2001, p. 143), Ryden (2008, p. 117), Kim (2012, p. 79), and Chan (1963, p. 200). For divergent Chinese interpretations of xuantong, see Wang (1993, p. 217) and Chen (2006, p. 278).

5. Although the Huainanzi is commonly attributed to the Eclectic School, I have two reasons to take it into my discussion of xuantong in early Daoist philosophy. First, its basic content may be more accurately considered as Daoist-oriented (Le Blanc, 1985, p. 2). Second, there is an intimate textual relation between the Huainanzi and the transmitted Wenzi (Van Els, 2018, pp. 135–142). The Wenzi was viewed as a forgery for a long time. Thanks to the excavation of the Dingzhou 定州bamboo slips, in which some fragmentary Wenzi was discovered, it has been believed to form at least in the early Han. For detailed discussions, see Wang (2000, pp. 1–13). Yet there is a thorny issue regarding relation between the Dingzhou Wenzi and the transmitted Wenzi. The legible words in the Dingzhou Wenzi account for a mere 7% of the transmitted Wenzi, while almost four fifths of the transmitted Wenzi can be identified in the Huainanzi. It suggests that the transmitted Wenzi is produced from the Huainanzi (including the discourses that will be discussed in this article) and other texts such as the Laozi and Zhuangzi. Overall, the Dingzhou Wenzi may be formed in the early Han, but the transmitted Wenzi is different from this ancient version and resulted from a process of synthesizing and editing the Laozi, Zhuangzi, Huainanzi, and other sources. For comprehensive studies on textual relations between the transmitted Wenzi, Dingzhou Wenzi, Huainanzi, see Van Els (2005, 2009, 2015). This article focuses only on the transmitted Wenzi rather than on Dingzhou Wenzi. To avoid confusion, I use ‘the Wenzi’ to refer only to the transmitted version.

6. For different etymological accounts of xuan, see Li (1999, pp. 326–327). For a pithy sketch of the different uses of xuan in early texts, see Chan (2010, pp. 1–2).

7. Li Chenyang points out that we can observe two related senses of tong, namely sameness and unity or togetherness (Li, 2014, p. 11). For a nuanced account of tong, see He (2019).

8. For the Chinese phrase 萬物玄同, see He (1998, pp. 73, 1120) and Wang (2000, pp. 19, 163, 338). For the phrase天下之德始玄同矣, see Guo (2006, p. 353).

9. I borrow from Henricks (2000, p. 65). Italics are my own.

10. Such inconsistency can also be found in LaFargue (1992, p. 66), Ryden (2008, p. 117), and Roberts (2001, p. 143), just to name a few.

11. Analyzing the word qi in the Laozi chapter 1, Yoav Ariel and Gil Raz further suggest that in chapter 56 qi may refer to the entity named ‘mysterious entity’, but they are also cautious in saying that ‘this referent seems to defy our expectations’ (Ariel & Raz, 2010, p. 411). For me, explaining qi as ‘mysterious entity’ is also improper. If taking ‘mysterious entity’ into phrase 5, it means ‘sever the bonds of mysterious entity’, which makes no sense.

12. Note that the Chinese phrase 5 ‘刨其纓’ in Guodian Laozi A is replaced by ‘挫其銳’ in Mawangdui Laozi A and B, and the transmitted version (Gao, 1996, p. 98).

13. Both Wang Bi 王弼 and Chen Guying suggest that the words ‘orifices’ and ‘gates’ are related to desires. See Lou (2008, p. 139) and Chen (2006, p. 265).

14. For this chapter, although the sequence of phrases in the transmitted Laozi is more ordered than those in Mawangdui Laozi A and B, the main points of the three versions are identical (Gao, 1996, p. 273).

15. For a detailed account, see He (2019).

16. In terms of the broad definition of tong (namely different entities becoming as one), this can be understood as people and their surroundings becoming as one.

17. Another Han commentator Gao You 高誘 (ca. 168 CE—ca. 212 CE) also explains xuan as heaven (He, 1998, p. 73).

18. Apart from the aforementioned commentaries, we cannot identify any comments on xuantong from other representative Laozi commentaries such as the Laozi xianger commentaries 老子想尔注 and the Wang Bi Laozi commentary 王弼老子注. See Lou (2008) and Rao (1991).

19. I consult Watson’s translation (Watson, 2013, p. 71).

20. Guo Xiang 郭象 (252 CE–312 CE), an influential commentator on the Zhuangzi, also associates xuantong with an undifferentiated perspective, remarking that ‘there is no that or this’ (which represents an undifferentiated perspective) leads to xuantong (Guo, 2006, p. 66).

21. One may argue that xuantong in the Laozi may also imply the oneness between people and all things in the universe. Yet the oneness cannot be directly read from this text. We can just read from the Laozi the oneness between people and their surroundings. I do believe that only when xuantong is used with wanwu, is the relation between people and all things in the universe clearly displayed.

22. For detailed accounts, see Yu (2007, pp. 200–210, 213–215), and Li (2004, pp. 197–198).

23. I consult Major et al’.s translation (2010, pp. 71–72).

24. For a detailed account of xinshu, see Roth (1999, pp. 99–123).

25. Besides the above quoted passage, this understanding can also be identified in the ‘Sayings Explained’ (quanyanxun 詮言訓) chapter of the Huainanzi (He, 1998, p. 996).

26. Shen in early China covers a wide range of meanings such as ‘deity’, ‘animating spirit’, and ‘vital force’. For discussions of the semantic filed of shen, see Major et al. (2010, p. 234) and Sterckx (2007, p. 23).

27. The two paragraphs can be, respectively, identified in He (1998, pp. 90, 68).

28. The aforementioned sentence of ‘Subtle Illumination’ also reveals that when in oneness with Dao, all things can be viewed from an undifferentiated perspective as one.

29. Shen may also be associated with mental activities of perception and cognition (Major et al., 2010, p. 234).

30. I follow Wang to read the Chinese phrases ‘即有自志貴乎天下’ as ‘即志遺乎天下’ and ‘因而為天下之要’ as ‘因天下而為天下也’. For detailed arguments, see Wang (2000, p. 164).

31. There is no English translation of the Wenzi. All translations of the paragraphs from the Wenzi are my own.

32. Parts 1, 2, 3, and 6 correspond to He (1998, pp. 68, 69, 70, 90), respectively. It should be noted that the sequence of parts 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 is identical with that of their corresponding parts in ‘Originating in the Way’.

33. The Chinese phrase ‘有道則隱, 無道則見’ (Wang, 2000, p. 18) can also be translated as ‘if the world has Dao, the genuine people would hide; if the world does not have Dao, the genuine people would appear’. However, the expression ‘if the world does not have Dao, the genuine people would appear’ suggests that the genuine people may distinguish from others who do not have Dao and even take action to have Dao prevailing in the world. Given that the whole discourse proposes non-distinction and non-action, this translation would be contradictory to the points that are expressed in this discourse, and so I do not adopt it.

34. Parts 2, 4, 9, 10, and 12 correspond to He (1998, pp. 66, 68, 68, 11, 73), respectively. Although we cannot identify part 3’s counterpart, the point that this part conveys is the same as that suggested in the phrase ‘does not lie in other people, but instead lies in their own selves’ from ‘Originating in the Way’ (He, 1998, p. 73).

35. The two parts propose hiding name, non-action, non-engagement, and non-knowledge, which can be identified from the Laozi’s chapters 41, 63, 63, and 70, respectively. See Chan (1963, pp. 174, 212, 212, 224).

36. For example, Chen Guying attributes xuantong solely to the Laozi, interpreting it as an ideal state in which bias is removed, barriers eliminated, constraints in social relationships overcome, and people treated impartially (Chen, 2006, p. 279). This article rejects this view, arguing that these connotations cannot be directly inferred from the Laozi, and it is in the three discourses from the Huainanzi and Wenzi that they can be read.

37. William Boltz remarks on this process that ‘the practice of compiling texts from a reservoir of preexisting materials, combined with whatever newly composed material was called for, was not just widespread but also norm’ (Boltz, 2005, p. 70). Paul Goldin also emphasizes the important role of transmitters, redactors, commentators in developing early Chinese philosophy (Goldin, 2020, p. 3).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China [22BZX044].