One But Many: On the Popularity and Diversity of the Dao in the Former Han Dynasty

This chapter focuses on Former Han Dynasty philosophers who recognized the Dao as the primordial source of existence—something to be emulated and harnessed for personal cultivation. They viewed the Dao as an "obscure," "empty," "formless," or even "nonexistent" origin of life and its natural cycles. At the same time, the Dao and its oneness served as a model for rulers, who were expected to govern through nonaction (wuwei), humility, and magnanimity. As both a subject of philosophical inquiry and a guide for self-cultivation, the Dao entered the world of Han elites and assumed a central role in meditative, self-cultivational, and medical practices considered beneficial to both body and mind.