The Chongxuan School, a school of Taoist philosophy.
"Chong" (pronounced "chong" like the Chinese character 虫) means "repetition" or "double". Its connotation is derived from Laozi: "The mystery of mysteries is the gateway to all wonders." This school interprets Laozi through the meaning of "chongxuan" (double mystery), holding that the essence of Laozi's thought lies in "the mystery of mysteries", aiming to achieve the state of "non-attachment" in philosophical thought.
Chongxuan philosophy originated with Sun Deng of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. Later, Taoist priests such as Meng Zhizhou and Zang Jin of the Liang Dynasty; Zhu Rou of the Chen Dynasty; Liu Jinxi of the Sui Dynasty; and Cheng Xuanying, Li Rong, Cai Zihuang, Huang Xuanyi, Che Xuanzhou, Zhang Huichao, Li Yuanxing, Du Guangting, and Wang Xuanlan of the Tang Dynasty all expounded on the meaning of chongxuan. The Chongxuan scholars integrated the Buddhist "method of double negation", took Zhuangzi's theories of "non-action" and "forgetting the mind" as the foundation, adopted the Buddhist idea of eliminating delusions and attachments, and strived to transcend both Xuanxue (Neo-Taoism) and Buddhism. They deepened Taoist philosophy into a kind of "chongxuan" philosophy, which marked the return of Taoism to the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi and its in-depth development.
Taoist Chongxuan philosophy negates both "being" and "non-being", and further negates "neither being nor non-being"; it negates both being and non-being, forgets both the origin and the manifestation, negates again after negation, forgets again after forgetting, and only then enters the realm of chongxuan. Chongxuan philosophy integrates ontology, epistemology, dialectical thinking, and cultivation theory, and is one of the philosophical pillars of Neidan (internal alchemy) studies. This school flourished in the Tang Dynasty, with Cheng Xuanying being the most prominent representative. Later, Du Guangting and Chen Jingyuan also inherited its doctrines, exerting a great influence.
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