Michel Strickmann司马虚

Style & Daoist names

Michel Strickmann

Period

Modern

Dates

1942 — 1994

Role

SinologistDaoist Scholars

Birthplace

United States

Life

Michel Strickmann, an American sinologist, studied early in his career in Paris under Max Kaltenmark and Kristofer Schipper, and later became a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was renowned for his research on the Shangqing scriptures; his dissertation and monograph Le Taoïsme du Mao chan: chronique d'une révélation (1981) systematically examines the revelations of Yang Xi and Xu Mi in the Eastern Jin and the formation of the Shangqing scriptures, and his paper 'The Mao Shan Revelations: Taoism and the Aristocracy' laid the foundation for Western Shangqing studies. He also argued that the study of Daoist history should strictly define the concept of 'Daoism' — restricting it to the religious tradition originating with the Way of the Celestial Masters — a position that sparked prolonged debate in the field. He further studied the relationship between Daoism and Buddhist Esotericism and Chinese medicine and religious healing; his posthumous works, Mantras et mandarins and Chinese Magical Medicine, were published after his death.

Contributions & Influence

• Systematically studied the Shangqing scriptures and the origins of Maoshan Daoism
• Proposed a strict definition of 'Daoism,' advancing methodological debate
• Studied the relationship between Daoism, Esoteric Buddhism, and medicine

Works

• Le Taoïsme du Mao chan
• The Mao Shan Revelations: Taoism and the Aristocracy
• Mantras et mandarins
• Chinese Magical Medicine