Thomas Michael 
In the Shadows of the Dao 
Laozi, the Sage, and the Daodejing

Thomas Michael’s study of the early history of the
Daodejing reveals that the work is grounded in a unique tradition of early Daoism, one unrelated to other early Chinese schools of thought and practice. The text is associated with a tradition of hermits committed to
yangsheng, a particular practice of physical cultivation involving techniques of breath circulation in combination with specific bodily movements leading to a physical union with the Dao. Michael explores the ways in which the text systematically anchored these techniques to a Dao-centered worldview. Including a new translation of the
Daodejing,
In the Shadows of the Dao opens new approaches to understanding the early history of one of the world’s great religious texts and great religious traditions.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments

Preface



1. Reading the
Daodejing Synthetically



Orientations

Conventions

Shadows

On the Early Daoism Label



2. Modern Scholarship on the
Daodejing



Religious and Philosophical Approaches to the
Daodejing

Modern Western Approaches to the
Daodejing

Modern Chinese Approaches to the
Daodejing



3. Traditions of Reading the
Daodejing



Daojia,
Daojiao, and Early Daoism

The Role of Commentary in the
Daodejing

The
Heshang Gong Commentary

The
Xiang’er Commentary

The
Wang Bi Commentary

Three Commentaries in Comparison



4. The Daos of Laozi and Confucius



Records of the Interview

Glimpses into the Dao of Antiquity

The Fault Line

Two Disciplines of the Body

Laozi and Confucius Revisited



5. Early Daoism,
Yangsheng, and the
Daodejing



The Hiddenness of Early Daoism

A Separate History

Orality and the
Daodejing

Early Daoism and
Yangsheng

Two Master Traditions and a Third


Yangsheng and the
Daodejing



6. The Sage and the World



Early Chinese Archetypes: the Sage, the King, and the General

The Benefits of the Sage


Qi: The Stuff of Life


De: Circulation Is Not Always Virtuous


De in Action



7. The Sage and the Project



The Death-World

Projects

The Great Project of the World

Salvation



8. The Sage and Bad Knowledge



A Confucian Study Break

Knowledge and
Yangsheng Sequences

Brightness and
Yangsheng Sequences

Knowledge Is a Sickness

The Question of Early Daoism Revisited



9. The Sage and Good Knowledge



The Second-Order Harmony


Yangsheng and the Knowledge of the Sage



Appendix: The
Daodejing

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the author

Thomas Michael specializes in early Chinese religion, philosophy, and shamanism, and is the author of
The Pristine Dao: Metaphysics in Early Daoist Discourse, also published by SUNY Press.