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Xuanxue Neo-Taoism: "Dark Learning" 2017-08-11 02:06:30 Post No. 19423944
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Xuanxue Neo-Taoism: "Dark Learning" 2017-08-11 02:06:30 Post No. 19423944
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Xuanxue (literally: "mysterious learning"), Neo-Taoism, or Neo-Daoism was the focal school of thought in Chinese philosophy from the third to sixth century CE.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xuanxue
Translating the term Xuanxue remains a problem. In view of the ambiguity of “Neo-Daoism,” “Dark Learning” has been proposed as an alternative. This is also not entirely satisfactory. Even if it is clear that “dark” does not connote something sinister, it is still problematic because while the subject of the inquiry may appear dark or inaccessible to understanding, there is nothing mysterious about the study or interpretation of it. Innovative and abstract in some respects, Xuanxue is nonetheless committed to analytic rigor and clarity in explicating the meaning of Dao, employing a new language that was de rigueur of the age. Critics sometimes condemn it as “dark,” because they judge it obfuscating and detrimental to the flourishing of the Way. They would use phrases like “dark words” (xuanyan) or “dark discourse” (xuanlun) in a pejorative sense, indicating that to them Xuanxue was nothing but empty talk, convoluted, mystifying and misguided. In these contexts, “xuan” may be translated as “abstruse,” “obscure,” or words to that effect.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neo-daoism/
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Do you believe this version of Daoism is any better then more traditional schools?
I don't know much about the subject but it's something I'm interested in.
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>>19423988
I don't think in terms of "better" or "worse." It's a Both Classical Taoism and Neo-Taoism (as well as many other phenomena) are labels for enormous bodies of thought stretching over thousands of years. It's simplistic and reductionist to make broad sweeping generalizations about what is "better and worse."
One way to look at it...generally speaking, Classical Daoism is mystical and "minimalist" while Neo-Daoism is esoteric and "maximalist." It has been said that the two are like different paths up the same mountain. The mystical/minimalist path is like climbing a sheer cliff to get to the top quickly and with no nonsense, while the esoteric/maximalist is like taking a wandering, meandering path that winds slowly over much more terrain, for a more leasurely ascent marked by appreciation of details and detours along the way. They both end in the same place, but different individuals will prefer one or the other.
This is a nice long piece on Neo-Daoism if you are interested.
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>>19424019
>This is a nice long piece on Neo-Daoism if you are interested.
>This is a nice long piece on Neo-Daoism if you are interested.
Sorry forgot the link. Here:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/neo-daoism/
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>>19424027
That is a long read, I'll check it out when I get home. Do you have any other reads for an entry into daoist beliefs?
Does Neo-Daoism incorporate qiqong or other forms of chi work?
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>>19424117
>Do you have any other reads for an entry into daoist beliefs?
I wouldn't start with Neo-Daoism. Start with classical Daoism; start with the Tao te Ching. There are a zillion translations out there, this one's bretty good:
http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/daodejing.html
>chi work
That's a huge topic on its own; there is overlap with Daoism as well as other Chinese schools of thought.
Happy wayfaring...
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