The Doctrine About Mind And Nature Of Taoism

Taoist school is an influential academic school that has greatly affected Chinese culture and the world culture at large, and will remain its influence in the future. The question of mind and nature is also the main topic of Chinese philosophy. A large numbers of the researchers at home and abroad who are studying the doctrine about mind and nature of the Confucian school have achieved much so far. The books and papers on the question of mind and nature of Buddhism have also been considerably published. But there have existed a lot of controversies about the question of mind and nature of Taoism in academia. Some scholars completely deny there is the doctrine about mind and nature in Taoism. Although other scholars have discussed somewhat the question, their research is seemingly superficial and still not systematical. This dissertation is the first paper that makes a systematic and comprehensive study of the doctrine about mind and nature of Taoism. The author deems that there existed a systematic doctrine of mind and nature in Taoism indeed, and that the doctrine is the third form of the school about mind and nature that differs quite from one of Confucianism and Buddhism in China.The dissertation revolves around a basic clue that it stresses a paralleled comparison among the Chinese ancient schools of Confucianism, Taoism, Mohism, legalism and Buddhism, and that highlights the peculiar nature of the doctrine about mind and nature of Taoism in comparison. Meanwhile, the author changes the traditional researching paradigm that focuses on historical figures and the development of the question, and converts to studying the various theories on mind and nature instead of the dynamic history of various schools. The author tries to study the doctrine about mind and nature of Taoism as a whole so as to grasp and exemplify the inherent logic of the theory.The whole dissertation consists of eight chapters besides the parts of introduction and conclusion, which are On Tao, On Nature, On Mind, On Temperament, On Man, On Fate, On Life and Death and On Self-Cultivation.