Daoism and the Three Teachings
Follow the exchange between Daoist, Confucian, and Buddhist ideas through concepts and individual teachers, without treating convergence as complete agreement.
Key terms: Three Teachings · Sanjiao Heyi · Chen Tuan · Zhang Boduan · Wang Chongyang · JingmingLearning path
- Start with the meaning of unity of the Three Teachings and distinguish shared concerns from institutional merger.
- Compare Chen Tuan and Zhang Boduan as different settings for cosmological learning and internal cultivation.
- Read Wang Chongyang alongside those earlier figures without assuming a single continuous school.
- Turn to Jingming for the relationship between religious cultivation and ethical life.
Core entries
5 entriesDaoist Foundations
1 entryPeople and History
3 entriesChen Tuan
Chen Tuan (died 989; his birth year and birthplace are disputed), courtesy name Tunan, was a recluse and Daoist associated with the Wudang and Hua mountains in the Five Dynasties and early Song. Later traditions linked him to diagrams of the Changes, inner alchemy, and stories of extraordinary sleep. These layers should not be treated as equally documented biography.
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Zhang Boduan was a Northern Song Daoist author and a major figure in internal alchemy. Later tradition honored him as the first patriarch of the Southern lineage, associating his teachings with the cultivation of both nature and life.
Read entry →Wang Chongyang
Wang Chongyang (1112–1170), originally named Zhongfu and later Zhe, founded Quanzhen Daoism during the Jin. After cultivating in the Guanzhong region, he taught in Shandong and organized communities whose disciples included Qiu Chuji. His teaching joined inner cultivation, ethical discipline, and engagement with Confucian, Buddhist, and Daoist writings; accounts of immortal instruction belong to Quanzhen religious biography.
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