Huang–Lao Daoism黄老道

Also known as

Huang–Lao Learning, Huang–Lao School, Huang–Lao Daoism

Type

School

Period

Warring States–Han

Founded

Formed in the mid-to-late Warring States period, flourished in the early Han, and evolved into a religious belief by the Eastern Han

Region

Jixia in the state of Qi, Chang'an and the various feudal states in the early Han, and popular at court and among the people in the Eastern Han

Status

Absorbed into Other Lineages — From the end of the Eastern Han it was incorporated into early Daoist orders such as the Way of Great Peace and the Way of the Celestial Masters; as a philosophical tradition it occasionally revived after the Han (as in Wei–Jin and Song–Ming "Huang-Lao" discourse), but it no longer existed as an independent school.

Overview

"Huang-Lao" refers to a system of thought and belief attributed to the Yellow Emperor and following the teaching of Laozi. In the Warring States period, scholars of the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi combined Laozi's theory of the Dao with elements of Legalism, the Yin-Yang school, and the School of Names, forming a political philosophy that emphasized "following circumstance," "forms and names," and "clarity, stillness and non-action," called Huang-Lao learning. In the early Han, under Emperors Wen and Jing, Huang-Lao was adopted as the guiding principle of statecraft; Cao Can and Empress Dowager Dou, among others, were both fond of Huang-Lao, giving rise to the "Reign of Wen and Jing." The Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor (the Jingfa, the Shiliu jing, the Cheng, and the Dao yuan), excavated from the Mawangdui Han tombs in 1973, provide direct source material for studying Huang-Lao thought. After Emperor Wu of Han elevated Confucianism as the sole orthodoxy, Huang-Lao learning receded in the political sphere, but combined with immortality belief among the populace and in circles of masters of methods, gradually evolving into the religionized "Huang-Lao Daoism": in the Eastern Han, Ying, Prince of Chu, "recited the subtle words of Huang-Lao and honored the benevolent shrines of the Buddha," and Emperor Huan "established shrines to Huang-Lao and the Buddha" within the palace, deifying Laozi into a god who could be sacrificed to. In the eighth year of Yanxi of Emperor Huan of Han (165), envoys were sent to sacrifice to Laozi at Ku County, and Bian Shao composed the Inscription for Laozi, calling him one who "comes and goes from the cinnabar chamber" and "is united with the Dao in perfection" — a landmark in the formation of the theological figure of Laozi in Daoism. Both Zhang Jiao's Way of Great Peace and Zhang Daoling's Way of the Five Pecks of Rice claimed to follow "Huang-Lao," and scholarship generally regards Huang-Lao Daoism as one of the direct forerunners of the emergence of Daoism as a religion.

Core Doctrine

Takes the "Dao" as the root of the cosmos and the law of governance, advocating clarity, stillness and non-action, following the trends of the times, the joint use of punishment and virtue, and a ruler at ease while his ministers labor; it absorbs the concepts of Yin-Yang, the Five Phases, and nourishing life to extend one's years, and regards the Yellow Emperor as the model sage-king who attained the Dao and became an immortal. From the Eastern Han onward, Laozi was further deified, held to have been "born before Heaven and Earth" and to have incarnated in every generation as the teacher of emperors, becoming an object of religious worship.

Practice & Ritual

In its early phase, practice centered on the arts of statecraft and life-nourishing techniques, such as nourishing essence and preserving spirit, restraining desire, and daoyin breath circulation; Eastern Han Huang-Lao Daoism saw the emergence of religious practices such as sacrificing to Laozi, reciting the Laozi, and observing retreat and fasting to pray for blessings, and these interpenetrated with the immortality-seeking techniques of Fangxian Dao. Heshang Gong's Commentary on the Laozi interprets the Laozi in a way that gives equal weight to governing the body and governing the state. This life-nourishing orientation was inherited by later Daoism.

Transmission

The Huang-Lao scholars of Jixia → early Han Huang-Lao statesmen (Gai Gong, Cao Can and others) → the transmission of the Commentary on the Laozi by Heshang Gong in the Han → Huang-Lao belief at court and among the populace in the Eastern Han → its incorporation into the Way of Great Peace and the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice. Huang-Lao Daoism had no order-based organization and no clear lineage of master-to-disciple transmission. Commentators on the Laozi in the Han such as Heshang Gong and Yan Zun (Zhigui of the Laozi), as well as the Huang-Lao elements within the Eastern Han Scripture of Great Peace, may be regarded as intermediate links in the transmission of its thought.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples