On Cheng Xuanying’s Doctrine Of Cultivating Of Personality

Cheng Xuanying is an important representative of the Taoism in the earlier Tang Dynasty and his theory of Lao Tzu features in the concept of "Cultivating Personality". In his Commentaries on Daode Jing, Cheng strives to unfold the concept of "Cultivating Personality" by explaining his opinions on the Twofold Mystery (chongxuan). Taoism emphasizes practice, and this practice is not only on the physical level, but also on the spiritual level. Cheng divides people into three kinds:the sage, the learner and the ordinary. These three kinds of people’s realization of Tao is deeply connected to the discussion of the Twofold Mystery. In Cheng, the Twofold Mystery is a symbol of the Tao of sage. The sage’s practice of the mind manifests his ideal personality and indicates the method of practicing Cultivating Personality. In this sense, on the recognition level, the thought of the subject is able to realize Tao in the most direct way, and express Tao in language. Therefore, the fundamental elements of Tao are thought and language. On this basis, Cheng comes up with the practice method:non-stagnation and double negation. Non-stagnation continues to criticize the being and non-being in ontology, and double negation is Cheng’s first attempt to establish Tao in the temperament theory which was inherited from Guo Xiang’s individualization.The Tao differentiates people from the perspective of their mental realms, while people discuss the Tao to construct their spiritual realms. Starting from this, Cheng establishes the Tao of people by examining the learner’s (not the sage or the ordinary) practice of the mind. The first level of the learner’s practice is to eliminate puzzles of the outer world and the suspension of wisdom. The second level is to find the balance between Tian Tao’s exhaustion and the adaptation of nature. However, practice at these levels is only to solve cognition problems. The real practice of the mind lies in returning to mildness(rou) and tranquility (jing). In other words, the soul finds its inner-peace and tranquility in a mild state (Xin yi rou zhi jing).This is Cheng’s inheritance and development of Lao Tzu’s doctrine.