« Taiwan Journal of Political Science No.22Publish: 2004/12

An Essay on Lao Tsu Jyy-Guei

Author: Chun-Hung Lin

Abstract / Chinese PDF Download

This study deals with one important text in Han dynasty, called Lao Tsu Jyy-Guei (《老子指歸》).We may rediscover the internal connection between Han TaoistSchool and Wei-Jing mysticism by analyzing the contents of this classical text. Mydissertation here is that Taoist thought has its own axial development when treatedas   an   academic   community   which   always   interacts   with   other   academiccommunities led by Confucian School. This article tries to follow this hypothesis byinvestigating  three  dimensions  of  this  text.  First  of  all,  we  discuss  the  academicposition  of  Jyy  Guei  in  Han  dynasty  and  the  “gasification”  viewpoint,  i.e.  theepistemological  and  ontological  understanding  found  in  Jyy  Guei.  We  also  talkabout the interaction between Tao and beings. Secondly, we deal with the politicalunderstanding in Jyy Guei by unfolding the coral? discourse of political roles withthe Sage. The skills to rule and the ideal type of polity dwelled on in Jyy Guei havebeen well discoursed at the last chapter. And we try to initiate some critical pointsintrospectively for further study in conclusion.Jyy Guei conveys the internal essence of thought in Lao-Chuang Taoism andYellow-Lao  Taoism  (“Four  Texts  of  Yellow  Emperor”  and  “Hwai  Nan  Tsu”included) to Wei-Jing Taoism (also famous as Wei-Jing Mysticism). We can easilytrace and catch the important transition in Middle-Age Chinese political philosophyjust by analyzing what we get in this important Taoist text.

Keywords:Body Formation、Breath or Vital Energy、gasification viewpoint、non-action、Root and Branch、Yellow-Lao Taoist