Lao–Zhuang School (Pre-Qin Daoist Philosophy)老庄学派（先秦道家）

Also known as

Daojia (Philosophical Daoism), School of the Dao and Its Virtue (Daodejia), Lao–Zhuang

Type

School

Period

Pre-Qin

Founded

c. 6th–3rd century BCE

Founder

Laozi, Zhuangzi

Region

Chu, Song, Qi and other regions

Status

Absorbed into Other Lineages — As a philosophical school it ceased to have an independent transmission after the Qin and Han, but its classics and ideas are jointly revered by all Daoist schools and form a core source of Daoist doctrine; as a philosophical current it has continued to influence the history of thought in China and East Asia.

Overview

The Lao–Zhuang School is the strand of pre-Qin philosophical thought that takes the "Dao" as its highest category; it was first named "Daoism" (Daojia) in the Han dynasty by Sima Tan's Essential Points of the Six Schools. Its foundational texts are the Laozi (Daodejing) and the Zhuangzi, with the Liezi, the Wenzi and the Guanyinzi and others later classified as Daoist works as well. Laozi proposed that "the Dao follows what is natural," that one should "govern through non-action," and that "the soft and weak overcome the hard and strong"; Zhuangzi developed these ideas into "free and easy wandering," "the equalization of things," "sitting in oblivion," and "the fasting of the mind," extending them from cosmology and political theory to the spiritual freedom of the individual. In the middle to late Warring States period, the Huang-Lao learning of the Jixia Academy in the state of Qi absorbed elements of Legalism and the Yin-Yang school, forming a politicized branch of Daoism. The Lao–Zhuang School itself was not a religious organization; it had no order, precepts, or worship of deities, but it provided the fundamental philosophical resources for later Daoism: Daoism reveres Laozi as the founder of the religion and takes the Daodejing as its foremost scripture, while Zhuangzi was canonized as the "Perfected of Nanhua," his book listed as the Nanhua Zhenjing. Scholarship generally distinguishes "Daojia" (philosophy) from "Daojiao" (religion), while also recognizing the continuity between the two in their concepts, terminology, and genealogy of figures. This entry is included as the intellectual origin of Daoism, to facilitate comparison with the later schools.

Core Doctrine

Takes the "Dao" as the origin of all things and the law governing their operation, holding that the Dao gives birth to the One, the One to the Two, the Two to the Three, and the Three to the myriad things; it exalts naturalness, non-action, guarding softness, valuing emptiness, and removing desire. Zhuangzi further advocated the equalization of all things, transcending right and wrong and life and death, and pursuing the states of the "Perfected Person" and the "Utmost Person" who are united with the Dao. These ideas form the philosophical foundation for later Daoism's cosmogony, its goals of cultivation (returning to simplicity and authenticity, uniting with the Dao), and its attitude toward life.

Practice & Ritual

Pre-Qin Daoism emphasized the cultivation of mind and nature and methods for conducting oneself in the world, such as "attaining utmost emptiness and guarding stillness in earnest," "concentrating the qi to achieve softness," "sitting in oblivion," "the fasting of the mind," and "following the central meridian as one's constant"; these were later interpreted by Daoism as the origins of cultivation techniques such as guarding the One, visualization, circulating breath, and daoyin exercises. The Zhuangzi mentions "exhaling and inhaling, expelling the old and taking in the new, stretching like a bear and craning like a bird," an early record of daoyin life-nourishing exercise. The school had no unified ritual or precepts.

Transmission

Laozi (traditionally said to have been the Keeper of the Archives under the Zhou) → legendary disciples such as Guan Yin (Yin Xi) and Wenzi; the Zhuangzi school was active in the Warring States period in the region of Song and Chu; the Huang-Lao scholars of the Jixia Academy (Tian Pian, Shen Dao, Huan Yuan, Jiezi and others) developed it in a political-philosophical direction; Huang-Lao learning flourished in the early Han; Wei–Jin Dark Learning (Wang Bi, Guo Xiang) revived Daoist philosophy through commentaries on Laozi and Zhuangzi. From the Eastern Han onward, Daoism deified Laozi as the Supreme Venerable Sovereign (Laojun) and incorporated this intellectual lineage into its own genealogy.

Key Scriptures

Key Figures

Principal Temples