Heng Dao Descends into the Central, One Qi Unifying the Whole: Ontological Genealogy and Practical Dimensions of Warring States Daoism

Previous scholarship on Warring States Daoism has largely been conducted within a binary framework of "Huang-Lao versus Zhuangism", focusing on the divergent paths of the two schools in political governance and spiritual attainment, while generally overlooking their shared dual foundation of ontology and virtue theory. Taking the two-tiered, two-dimensional Dao-substance of "Heng Dao (Bu De / Non-Attributive Virtue) – Central Qi (Kong De / Greatest Virtue)" from Version A of the Mawangdui Silk Manuscript Laozi as its core anchor, this paper systematically examines the ontological inheritance, virtuous evolution and practical differentiation of Daoist thought after Laozi. It draws on unearthed documents such as Dao Yuan (The Origin of Dao) from the Mawangdui Silk Manuscript Four Canons of the Yellow Emperor and Fan Wu Liu Xing (All Things Flow into Form) from the Shanghai Museum Bamboo Slips, alongside transmitted classics including the Nei Ye (Inner Cultivation) chapter of Guanzi, Zhuangzi, Wenzi and Liezi. This study demonstrates that Heng Dao is the ineffable ultimate ontology, and Bu De (Non-Attributive Virtue) is its inherent virtuous appearance. The two are identical in substance yet distinct in reference, forming the ontological stratum of the dual Dao-De dimension. Central Qi is the sole speakable operative form of Heng Dao; Kong De (Greatest Virtue) is its manifest virtuous countenance, and Xuan De (Mysterious Virtue) is its core attribute. Together they constitute the operative stratum. This unified framework of "distinction between substance and function, isomorphism of Dao and De" extends downward into essential qi generation and transformation, self-cultivation practice and governance of the world, and inward into the state theory of spiritual transcendence. It constitutes the shared intellectual backdrop of all Warring States Daoist schools, and serves as the core thread for understanding the developmental trajectory of pre-Qin Daoism.