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<p>The Western paradigm of philosophical practice assumes that philosophical arguments are independently comprehensible by the intellect, with spiritual exercises serving mainly to apply them in practical contexts. This paper argues that Daoism exhibits a drastically different model. Drawing on participant observation, we examine a Daoist group whose practice of <i>Xingyi</i> (形意) – a traditional Chinese martial art – is closely guided by the <i>Daodejing</i>. The meanings of this classical Daoist text are not fully accessible to the intellect alone; they are initially unsaturated and await enrichment through the embodied experience of <i>qi</i>. Rather than an independent text that unilaterally guides practice, the <i>Daodejing</i> stands in a reciprocal, dynamic relation with <i>Xingyi</i>: its meanings are revealed through practice, which they guide in turn. This inversion of the Western sequence of philosophical understanding and practical application poses a significant challenge to universal accounts of how philosophy ‘works’ in practical contexts.</p>

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Practicing the Philosophy of Dao

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月6日

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  • Wen Chen,
  • Xiaoxing Zhang

摘要

The Western paradigm of philosophical practice assumes that philosophical arguments are independently comprehensible by the intellect, with spiritual exercises serving mainly to apply them in practical contexts. This paper argues that Daoism exhibits a drastically different model. Drawing on participant observation, we examine a Daoist group whose practice of Xingyi (形意) – a traditional Chinese martial art – is closely guided by the Daodejing. The meanings of this classical Daoist text are not fully accessible to the intellect alone; they are initially unsaturated and await enrichment through the embodied experience of qi. Rather than an independent text that unilaterally guides practice, the Daodejing stands in a reciprocal, dynamic relation with Xingyi: its meanings are revealed through practice, which they guide in turn. This inversion of the Western sequence of philosophical understanding and practical application poses a significant challenge to universal accounts of how philosophy ‘works’ in practical contexts.