From Laozi to Lao-Zhuang and Huang-Lao Daoism: The Two Paths of Oneness in the Development of Early Daoist Thought

This paper proposes examining the central notion of Oneness (一 yi) in Daoist thought by offering an analysis of its uses in the early writings of the Daoist tradition, beginning with the Laozi 老子 and the Zhuangzi 莊子 before moving on to Huang-Lao 黃老 texts. While Oneness in the Laozi primarily appears as another “name” for Dao, it was used in discussions of cosmogony and cosmology, political governance, and personal cultivation. These multiple aspects of Oneness in the Laozi were later developed along two different paths in Daoist thought. The first, exhibited in the Zhuangzi, the Baopuzi 抱樸子, and other similar documents, treated Oneness as the ultimate source of all things and extended its meaning in the context of personal cultivation. In resonance with this path, their central teachings concerned “maintaining Oneness” (守一 shou yi). In the second path, expressed in the Huang-Lao tradition’s understanding and interpretation of the Laozi, Oneness acquired a certain concreteness and was singled out as the criterion and standard for social order, while the notion of Dao gradually devolved into abstraction. Huang-Lao writers hence emphasized Oneness in the sense of unification, uniformity, a singular decree, or law, which opened a theoretical gap between Oneness and Dao, and their central teachings concerned “utilizing Oneness” (用一 yong yi) and “holding Oneness” (執一 zhi yi).