Page 45 - The Encyclopedia of Taoism v1_A-L

DEFINITIONS

daojia

Taoism; "Lineage(s) of the Way"

The term daojia is a topic of debate among scholars, mainly concerning whether
early Taoism constituted a "school" or "lineage," as the term jia seems to imply,
and the distinction between daojia and *DAOjIAO, which is often understood
to mean the religious forms of Taoism. The term daojia itself originated with
Han historiographers as a bibliographic label, but has also been applied to texts
related to Taoist religion in such modern compilations as the Sibu beiyao [9 $
11 ~ (Complete Essentials from the Four Sections of Literature) and the Sibu
cOl1gkal1 [9 $i\i tU (Collectanea from the Four Sections of Literature).
According to many modern interpreters, daojia began with Laozi and
Zhuangzi :flf r. Some scholars suggest that this classification is an ex post
facto creation, arguing that Laozi and Zhuangzi were independent thinkers
and that-at least as far as the first seven, authentic chapters of the *Zhual1gzi
are concerned- there is no evidence that they influenced each other. Similar
circumstances, however, are common to several schools of philosophy and
religion both in China and elsewhere. Confucius himself intended only to
transmit and restore the lost order of the Zhou kingdom, with no awareness
that he was beginning a school of thought. Moreover, the so-called daojia is
only one of the roots of what came to be Taoism.
The main point, therefore, is not whether the daojia was a school-most
specialist agree that it was not. Even though the features of daojia are found
mainly in the Daode jil1g and the Zhual1gzi, other texts and authors reflect
these trends, each with its own emphasis. Some of the main Warring States
thinkers and texts belonging to this group are Shen Dao t~ilj (as reported
in the Zhual1gzi,j. 33), Yang Zhu m*, Heguan zi &~7ar, the *Neiye (Inner
Training) and Xil1Shu JL,,#j (Arts of the Heart) chapters of the Guanzi ~ r,
and the Daoyual1 J1!~ (Dao, the Origin; trans. Yates 1997, 171- 77) scroll of the
*Mawangdui manuscripts. Later, Han syncretism, as expressed in the *Huail1an
zi and by the *Huang-Lao school, tended to combine the thought of the
Daode jing and the Zhuangzi with a philosophical explOitation of the Yellow
Emperor (*Huangdi) and certain features of the legalist school of thought.

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