Home > JOURNALSANDNEWSLETTERS > INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF TRANSPERSONAL STUDIES > Vol. 28 (2009) > Iss. 1
DOI
10.24972/ijts.2009.28.1.119
Abstract
This paper is aimed at facilitating the study of Daoism, a collection of Chinese philosophical
beliefs and psychospiritual practices with a history of thousands of years and a living
community that stretches throughout East Asia, from a transpersonal psychology perspective.
Transpersonal psychologists who wish to embark upon a study of Daoist phenomena
must first be cognizant of the often nebulous parameters of the Daoist field of inquiry.
Therefore, an overview is offered of the two primary Daoist informational sources: the living
Daoist tradition as represented predominantly by the Quanzhen and Tianshi traditions,
and textual sources in collections such as the Daozang and the Zangwai Daoshu. Some
critical issues are highlighted, such as the fact that transpersonal psychologists need to be
mindful of various inherent difficulties associated with the study of Daoism (e.g., problems
interpreting allegorical and even deliberately encoded texts in the absence of the necessary
oral transmissions). Finally, a number of avenues for future research are put forward in the
interest of facilitating the transpersonal study of Daoism.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Cott, C., & Rock, A. (2009). Cott, C. (2009). Towards a transpersonal psychology of Daoism: Definitions, past research, and future directions. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28(1), 119–133.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 28 (1). https://doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2009.28.1.119