Xuanxue
Years: 250 - 500
Xuanxue, Neo-Taoism, or Neo-Daoism is the focal school of thought in Chinese philosophy from the third to sixth century CE.
Xuanxue philosophers combine elements of Confucianism and Taoism to reinterpret the Yijing, Daodejing, and Zhuangzi.The name compounds xuan "black, dark; mysterious, profound, abstruse, arcane," occurs in the first chapter of the Lao-tzu.
Xue "study, learn, learning," literally the "learning" or "study" of the "arcane," "mysterious," or "profound."
In Modern Standard Chinese usage, Xuanxue can mean "neo-Daoism," "Buddhism," "metaphysics," "spiritualism," or "mysticism".French sinologist Terrien de Lacouperie (1845-1894) believed Neo-Taoism originally developed out of an amalgamation of "wonderism" (or Jixia Academy thought) and the philosophical Taoism of Laozi.
Two influential Xuanxue scholars weare Wang Bi and Guo Xiang, editors and leading commentators on the Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, respectively.
