Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism formed with the emergence of Wei-Jin Xuanxue.

Author: Wang Xiaoyi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-09-01
Features: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all influenced the theoretical construction of Wei-Jin Xuanxue, but their impacts varied significantly. Among them, the complementarity between Confucianism and Taoism formed the theoretical core of Xuanxue. Confucian ethics was the lifeblood of scholars, while the "Huang-Lao" and "Lao-Zhuang" schools within Taoism, as the most vibrant intellectual forces, dominated academic transformation. Since the "Huang-Lao" Taoist school had already integrated Confucian ethics, in a broad sense, Wei-Jin Xuanxue was a fusion of "Huang-Lao" and "Lao-Zhuang." In a narrow sense, it was the integration of the "Huang-Lao" concepts of "following tradition" and "form and name," as well as the "Lao-Zhuang" ideas of "nature" and "speech and meaning," with Confucian ethical doctrines. The translation of Buddhist scriptures then indirectly stimulated the transformation of Xuanxue from a creationist perspective to an ontological one.