Abstract
The authors of the Taipingjing see in oneness the source of heaven and the maintenance of its order. They therefore propose that when human beings stick to oneness they will identify with heaven’s intentions and in consequence understand and improve the world they live in. For this reason, the authors’ approach to thinking and acting is as reductionist as is that of the Laozi. People are expected to strictly separate what is essential, as for instance life, from all that is not. They are also advised to use meditation techniques in order to arrive at spiritual concentration. The adherence to oneness is said to promote stringent reasoning, personal well-being and effective policy.
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- 1.
Solomon points to Wang Bi 王弼 (226–249 CE) when he argues that at times one, being seen as the source of numbers, was not considered to be a number. Solomon 1954; Lou 1999: 547–548. In the Taipingjing one plays both roles: “One is the beginning of numbers 一者数之始也” and “numbers originate in one 数起於一.” Wang 1979: 129.335; Wang 1979: Chao, 709. Wang Ming’s 1979 edition of the text is quoted by section and page number. Chao refers to the Taipingjing Chao 太平經鈔, a Tang dynasty digest of the Taipingjing that allows access to most of those parts of the texts that have been lost. See Espesset 2013. Wang has integrated the Chao into his edition of the Taipingjing. See also below, note 6. Wording and punctuation of Wang’s edition have been much improved by that of Yu (2001), which is always consulted, and so are Yang’s (2013) commentary and translation.
- 2.
For a philosophical discussion of oneness, see Manfred Zahn 1973.
- 3.
Robinet (1995) provides a brief introduction to the metaphysical role of “one.” Both Chan and Cao discuss the term at length when introducing the Fanwu Liuxing 凡物流形 of the Shanghai corpus of manuscripts that goes back to the late fourth century BCE. See Chan 2015; Cao 2017. This text (in particular strips 28, 22, and 17) draws a direct line from searching for oneness to knowing and preserving it, and from there to its application for political unification. Strip 17 reads in my translation: “Think of it after you have found the one as if you were to unify all-under-heaven and rein over it. Retaining oneness is guiding heaven and earth 得一而思之, 若并天下而治之守一以為天地旨.” Chan 2015: 290. Cao analyzes the links that reach from here to the Guanzi’s 管子 “Inward Training” (neiye 内業) as analyzed by Roth (1999).
- 4.
For Mencius 孟子, for instance, unity was a value. Hsiao 1979: 167–170. The Mawangdui Huang-Lao 馬王堆黃老 text Complete Laws (Cheng fa 成法) deals with the cosmic and political power of oneness. Yates 1997: 134–135. For the Huainanzi 淮南子 Meyer points to the relevance of political unification and to the identity with Dao, which is “the only reality outside which there may be nothing else.” Major et al. 2010: 907. Nylan (2008) analyzes the different meanings of unification and oneness when applied to characterizing the empire.
- 5.
The text includes some materials that are assuredly of a later date. They are usually placed at the end of sections. Wang 1979: 77.185f.; 83.211. Sections 162–164 and 168 have parallels in Upper Clarity (shangqing 上清) works.
- 6.
Section titles as included in the Daozang edition probably go back to the sixth century editors and have been fully preserved in a table of contents that is contained in the Dunhuang 敦煌 manuscript S4226. See Espesset 2007; cf. Yang 2013: 2535–2552. According to that table, the following sections deal with oneness: section 15 “Method for retaining oneness by purifying one’s person 清身守一法;” section 21 “Rejecting what is wrong by cultivating oneness 脩一却邪法;” section 27 “Method for retaining the radiance of oneness 守一明之法;” section 49 “Method for retaining oneness 守一法;” section 152 “Advice on retaining oneness, entering the hut and knowing spirits 守一入室知神戒;” section 212 (cf. Yu 2001: 495 on differences between the Dunhuang table of contents and the received text) “Advice on how three make one family and on five being the number of Yang and fire 三者爲一家陽火數五訣;” section 304 “Advice on how two brings forth one 兩生成一訣;” and section 315 “Advice on how to last long by retaining oneness 守一長存訣.” Sections 152 and 212 are part of the transmitted text; section 49 is not but may have left traces in section 48 that towards the end deals with retaining oneness. Traces of the other sections can be found in the Chao, cf. above note 1.
- 7.
Most materials used in this chapter stem from this textual layer (“Celestial Master group”). Another major layer deals with meetings between an adept and a Great Spirit and is more concerned with correct discipline than with matters of social reform or meditation practice. In this layer (“wei-group”) sections and paragraphs are often introduced by the particle wei 惟. See Espesset 2002b; Hendrischke 2012.
- 8.
- 9.
For an interesting comparison with Ge Hong’s concept of mystery (xuan 玄), see Gil Raz’s chapter in this Companion.
- 10.
It is also proposed that due to their cosmological rank, heaven is connected to one, as earth is to two and humans to three. Wang 1979: 53.75.
- 11.
Here, ai 愛 “to love” is corrected to shou 受 “to receive.” Yang 2013: 1328. The belief in the cosmogonic role of oneness is well documented; see for instance Daodejing 道德經 chapter 42 (Lau 1989: 62) and Fanwu Liuxing strip 21: “One brings forth two, two three, three the female and the female beings about connections 一生兩, 兩生參, 參生女, 女成結.” Chan 2015: 290. See also passages in the Huainanzi chapter “yuandao 原道.” Lau and Ames 1998: 106–109.
- 12.
One is called Dao’s root (gen 根). Wang 1979: Chao, 12–13; Dao’s hawser (wang 網). Wang 1979: 77.185; cf. Hendrischke 2017a: 108. The authenticity of this passage is doubtful since it contains quotations from the Daodejing and several unusual terms, and “collar around the neck of perfect Dao 夫一, 乃至道之喉襟也.” Wang 1979: 152.410. There has been some discussion about the Taipingjing’s ranking of the highest entities. Asano (1982) argues convincingly that heaven is the most eminent. It is also situated closest to oneness. Puett argues that “the Xiang’er 想爾 commentary appeals to the One as a more primordial being than heaven and earth.” Puett 2004: 21. While this may also hold true for the Taipingjing, it does not prevent its authors from seeing heaven as being in absolute charge of “all under heaven.” To better understand how the Xiang’er commentary to the Daodejing is related to issues of health and longevity, see Ronnie Littlejohn’s chapter in this Companion.
- 13.
Li gives a full account of the presence of taiyi 太一 in received texts and archaeological findings. See Li 1995–1996.
- 14.
See Lau 1992: 32.58.7, “liyun 禮運” chapter.
- 15.
See Wang 1979: 160.450: “If you do not want to come to an end, you should together with qi become the mysterious female and emulate heaven in doing so. Then how could you come to death? However, [this method] cannot be immediately obtained. Thus, you should make for yourself a dark room. Enter the room and contemplate Dao. Naturally you do not eat and stay tied to qi. Since you end up as a spirit of heaven and earth, you no longer associate with secular governance. You then follow the Great One of heaven. You will have an audience in the Central Pole [the celestial Hall of Light], receive a talisman, and be on your way in a circular movement that reaches into all six directions and extends to the eight distances. You will never be exhausted 子欲不終窮, 宜與氣為玄牝, 象天為之, 安得死也.亦不可卒得, 乃成幽室也.入室思道, 自不食與氣結也. 因為天地神明畢也, 不復與於俗治也.乃上從天太一也, 朝於中極, 受符而行, 周流洞達六方八遠, 無窮時也.” Another occurrence of the Great One is in the Chao, excerpting the now-lost section 122 “How to live long by obtaining Dao 得道長存,” where it is suggested to adepts that they “will discard common thoughts, meet with spirits, rise up to the clouds and ride on a dragon, share an abode with Duke of Thunder, be physically transformed into a spirit and shaped like the Great One 俗念除去, 與神交結, 乘雲駕龍, 雷公同室, 軀化而為神, 狀若太一.” Wang 1979: 306. The authenticity of this passage is doubtful: its content and style are unusual. It is written in regular lines of four or seven characters, many of which rhyme. Yu 2001: 255.
- 16.
The retaining of two and three is said to be not as efficient as the retaining oneness. Wang 1979: 724. Eskildsen (2015: 37) suggests that this refers to a hierarchy of meditation methods. This may also pertain to the passage at hand. It agrees with the proverbial wisdom that one should narrow one’s focus if aiming for results.
- 17.
In the Daodejing, much of what is said about oneness could also be said about Dao which is a term whose spiritual component is seldom featured in the Taipingjing. Zhang Dainian (2002: 103–104) points to the subtle details in the relationship between the two concepts.
- 18.
More than half of the mentions of oneness in the Daodejing connect it with a verb that points to possession: bao 抱 “to hold” (Daodejing, chapters 10 and 22) and de 得 “to obtain” (Daodejing, chapter 39). In Guanzi’s “Neiye” it is the object of shou 守 “to retain” and zhi 執 “to hold fast.” Roth 1999: 93; 63. The Fanwu Liuxing (strip 23) speaks of “retaining oneness.” Chan 2015: 290.
- 19.
For examples of “obtaining,” see notes 3 and 18.
- 20.
Xu (2014a) simplifies matters with a neat-looking overview of how the authors of the Taipingjing understood “retaining oneness.” He argues that they inherited from pre-Qin thinkers the coupling of individual and state, the return to the root and self-reflection as the three aspects of the term’s meaning and added to them the belief in the Great One, Han dynasty speculations on primordial qi, and the practices of breathing that bring about control over the body spirits. He also proposes that they connected the term to Confucian moral norms and that it became thereby indirectly involved in reducing the inherited load of trespasses. While all these components do play a role, the resulting picture looks wrong. The individuals whom the authors of the Taipingjing link to running the state were not those depicted by the old philosophers; for the authors self-reflection was a new technique that relied on maintaining a dialogue with spirits and with heaven. Moreover, the concept of primordial qi goes back to pre-Han times, and it remains unclear how important it was for the Taipingjing’s argumentation. Importantly, the moral norms that are praised in the Taipingjing may have Confucian names but not necessarily content.
- 21.
“So for the doctrine (Dao) of how to retain oneness: once we are in possession of [what has been said on] retaining oneness in the past and today, we sort this material into categories. Once men of superior worth and intelligence apply their energy to this, they are capable of transcending their generation. Once worthy men of average rank do so, they are the sovereign’s honest assistants and efficient clerks. Once men of low rank do so, they do not know of joy or anger and the world is without resentment and accusations 是故夫守一之道, 得古今守一者, 復以類聚之。上賢明力為之, 可得度世; 中賢力為之, 可為帝王良輔善吏; 小人力為之, 不知喜怒, 天下無怨咎也.” See Wang 1979: 152.409–410; cf. Hendrischke 2017a: 122.
- 22.
Ji Kang would say something similar, albeit in terms of harmony (he 和).
- 23.
The passage continues by saying that the ruler must not be fond of killing. In the apparatus of Jiao Xun’s edition commentators have taken this as a cue and created a link from oneness to “origin” (yuan 元) and from there to humanness. That may not be necessary. Mencius’ approach may here be psychological. The ruler who wants to succeed must concentrate on shepherding the people, just as someone intending to learn chess must concentrate on the game rather than think of hunting. See Jiao 1987: 23.781; Lau 1970: 6A.165–166. In the Guanzi’s “xinshu 心術” chapter it is argued that someone who holds fast to oneness (zhiyi 執一) will rule over the myriad things by employing concentration (zhuan 專). Li 2009: 780.
- 24.
See Misha Tadd’s contribution in this Companion for more.
- 25.
- 26.
When read in this way, the text is fully behind the Xiang’er commentary that opposes the view that superior entities like Dao or oneness are actually present in the human body. Oneness is a body deity neither in the Taipingjing nor in the Xiang’er commentary, as pointed out by Bokenkamp (1993). However, the Xiang’er assigns more physical presence to the one than does the Taipingjing as can be seen in the following passage: “The One does not reside within the human body … it comes and goes within the human body, that’s all. It is there everywhere within your skin, not just in a single spot.” See Mugitani 1985: 10.12–14, as translated by Bokenkamp 1993: 44.
- 27.
This excerpt is from section 315 (now lost) of the original text that was entitled “Advice on how to last long by retaining oneness.” What body spirits are and how they should be handled is explained in more detail in section 108 of the Taipingjing. See Hendrischke 2017a: 160–173.
- 28.
This and surrounding passages have also been transmitted in Secret Advice by the wise Lord of the Scripture on Great Peace (Taipingjing Shengjun bizhi 太平經聖君祕旨, Daozang 1102) that instructs on the stages by which an adept of retaining oneness becomes capable of accumulating qi, experiencing radiance and envisaging spirits. Date and author are unknown but for good reasons Grégoire Espesset sees it as originating in the second to third centuries CE and in close relationship to the Taipingjing and the Huangtingjing 黃庭經. He also provides a reliable translation and annotation of the text. See Espesset 2009: 34 for the passage at hand. The passage must also be read from the perspective of Stephen Eskildsen’s work who puts the ideas and practices that are proposed in the Taipingjing and related materials in the context of a historical overview of Daoist meditation. See Eskildsen 2015, chapter 2. He understands the One as something “like the primal, universal vital force of Dao that endows all creatures with their essential nature and individual life.” Eskildsen 2015: 38. For the introductory “守一明之法” Secret Advice reads “守一明法 the brilliant method of retaining oneness” as I would render the expression. Livia Kohn has “the practice of guarding the light of the One,” Espesset “la méthode pour préserver l’unité de la luminosité,” and Eskildsen “the method of Guarding the One Light.” See Kohn 1993: 195; Espesset 2009: 38; Eskildsen 2015: 309. For the expression zhi yi 治一, the Secret Advice reads li yi 理一 and the sentence is rendered by Espesset as “faites-la revenir en régulant son unite.” Yang seems to agree when he explains “applying oneness” as combining the three factors of vital energy (jing 精), qi and spirit (shen神) that the introduction to Secret Advice calls the energies that constitute a human being. Yang 2013: 66.
- 29.
They are hinged at the Xiang’er commentary. See Mugitani 1985: 3.15; Bokenkamp 1997: 88–89; and Bokenkamp 1993: 49. Chapter 18 (dizhen 地真) of the Baopuzi 抱朴子 reads like a hymn to unity and is summed up by arguing that the retaining of true unity is the only way to overcome all fear that a person may feel (唯有守真一, 可以切不畏此輩). See Wang: 1980: 300. Ding and Liu investigate a range of Daoist psycho-physiological techniques and in particular embryonic breathing in regard to retaining oneness. Ding and Liu 1986 in interpretation of Wang 1979: 699. Zhang (1999) sees in retaining oneness the background of Neidan Daoism. What is more, since the scholar Xiang Kai 襄楷 (fl. 166–188 CE) applied the term shou yi to Buddha’s mental state and since it occurs in early Buddhist writings, it has been the source of suppositions on the doctrinal interdependence of early Daoist and early Chinese Buddhist teachings on meditation (for Xiang Kai’s memorial, see Hou Hanshu1964: 30B.1082; de Crespigny 1976). Greene points out that these suppositions are doubtful (Greene 2014). He documents the doctrinal independence of both groups of believers and concludes that their relationship was more complex than has hitherto been proposed. He shows that early Chinese Buddhist teachings often present the contemplation of impurity, which is irrelevant to Daoist concerns, as the basic form of meditation and that the term shou yi, although used for translating “mental restraint” in similarity to its use in Daoist writings, occurs in the early translations also in a non-technical sense.
- 30.
Here, as usual, the authors of the Taipingjing are concerned with the conduct of everyone rather than focusing on the actions of the educated or the ruler, as was customary. Long 2000: 867.
- 31.
- 32.
This comes to the fore in section 152, particularly page 412.
- 33.
At this point, it suits the Master’s argument to let original oneness, before there were patterns and names, look bleak. Moreover, the passage clarifies that should humankind come to an end, so too would heaven.
- 34.
For this use of “figure” see also: “What has the same figure has the same physical shape (xing 形). What has a different figure has a different physical shape. Is and is not (shifei 是非) are exactly like this.” Wang 1979: 68.171. Franklin Perkins and Robin Wang have hinted at the role of lei “category” in grouping the multitude of things (wu 物). See Perkins 2018: 63; Wang 2012: 85–96.
- 35.
Another perspective of natural order was put forward by Wang Chong 王充. For more, see Alexus McLeod’s chapter in this Companion.
- 36.
Isabelle Robinet (1995) points out that triads are a significant linkage between the one and the many since they are in fact both.
- 37.
Hachiya Kunio has highlighted these ideas in a paper on the terms gong 共, ji 集 and tong 通. Hachiya 1983.
- 38.
This is followed by: “They are bound to communicate regularly and announce to each other what [they deem] good and what evil 必常相與常通語言, 相報善惡.”
- 39.
- 40.
See section 129 for collecting ideas and section 43 for maintaining public order. See also Hendrischke 2006: 105–112.
- 41.
Since non-Chinese people are frequently mentioned, “what is below heaven” (tianxia 天下) extends well beyond the Chinese empire. See Hendrischke 2006: 86–88.
- 42.
This proposition opens space for the acknowledgement of popular opinion which comes to the fore when infanticide is called harmful because all women object to it (section 41) or when punishments are condemned because of popular objections. See Wang 1979: 64.144–145.
- 43.
See above note 31.
- 44.
Children’s songs as a source of truth are mentioned. Wang 1979: 71.174. Throughout the Taipingjing, worthy men are described as being in charge of administrative matters while wise men look after the interchange between Yin and Yang and other cosmic matters.
- 45.
See also Wang Chong’s 王充 (27–100 CE) Lunheng 論衡, chapter 35 “liangzhi 量知.”
- 46.
However, when discussing criteria for the selection of officials the authors know of distinguished individuals whose participation is crucial to the success of a project. Such an exceptional individual is termed qiren 其人 “such a man” and the ruler is advised to find and employ him. Wang 1979: 77.184. The expression “Yin and Yang are no longer changeable” is another way of saying that people know the difference between black and white.
- 47.
Further down this proposition is put in simple terms: “To believe exclusively what one man has said and act accordingly is to risk destruction. It brings great loss and great damage to the world. For this reason, my writings do not dare contain isolated words and orphaned sayings 獨信一人言而行之, 則危亡矣, 是天下之大失大傷也。故吾書不敢容單言孤辭也.” Wang 1979: 152.421. In a similar mode, the authors of the Taipingjing argue that memorials sent to the rulers are only trustworthy when submitted by a group of people. Wang 1979: 127.326–327.
- 48.
- 49.
The concept of “people as root” (min ben 民本) was geared to the Warring States’ increasing demand for soldiers and agricultural labor. Pines 2012: 136–139.
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Hendrischke, B. (2020). Oneness in the Taipingjing. In: Chai, D. (eds) Dao Companion to Xuanxue 玄學 (Neo-Daoism). Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-49228-1_4
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