ABSTRACT
Classical Chinese has two words for “self,” one that represents a vision of an organized and object-oriented selfhood (ji) versus one of a self-contained and receptive, if only gradually realized, spontaneity (zi). A complex phenomenon made up from personal identity, social relations, and specific ways of understanding the cosmos, the self in Daoism is perceived as an ongoing flux of experience both within the body and the greater environment. This contrast between two types of self manifests in a distinction between human beings and Dao, between ego-centered mind and pure spirit, between the social or personal and the cosmic body. The same distinction also appears in contemporary psychological terms as the contrast between the “object self” and the “observing self,” a contrast fundamental in the modern understanding of different types of experiences as well as in separating ordinary consciousness from the mystical mind. In this as well as other respects, Daoism can be closely related to forms of mysticism in other traditions.
