Huainanzi

or Huai-nan-tzu

Chinese Daoist classic written с 139 BC under the patronage of the nobleman Huainanzi.

The work deals with cosmology, astronomy, and statecraft. It asserts that the dao (way) originated from vacuity, which produced the universe, which in turn produced material forces. These material forces combined to form yin and yang, which give rise to the multiplicity of things. Many of the teachings of the Huainanzi are still accepted as orthodox by Daoist philosophers as well as by Confucianists. See also Daoism.

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▪ Daoist literature

Chinese“Master Huainan”also called  Huainan honglie (“Great Words from Huainan”) 

      important Chinese classic written in the 2nd century BC under the patronage of the nobleman Huainanzi ( Liu An). It is a compilation of 21 loosely connected chapters on metaphysics, cosmology, matters of state, and conduct. Although it contains little that is not included in two earlier Daoist classics, the Daodejing and Zhuangzi, its cosmogony is more elaborate and more definite.

      In cosmological evolution (creation myth), according to the Huainanzi, the Dao (“Way”) originated from vacuity, and vacuity produced the universe, which in turn produced the material forces. The material forces of heaven and earth combined to form the two complimentary forces yin-yang (yinyang), which in turn give rise to the myriad things on earth and in heaven. In its broad outline this cosmogony has been retained as orthodox doctrine by Daoist philosophers and also by adherents of Confucianism. In its discussion of the spirit, the Huainanzi introduces such ideas as immortality on earth and the physical techniques, such as breathing, used to achieve it, thus paving the way for the later confusion of Daoist philosophy with Daoist popular religion. Further, by approaching metaphysics and cosmology in an essentially rational spirit, the text prepared for the emergence of rationalistic Neo-Daoism.

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