Huainanzi
淮南子 (Huainanzi)
The cosmos, the state, and the individual body all run on the same underlying pattern of Dao and qi, so a ruler who understands cosmology, seasonal cycles, and the art of effortless action can govern with the same effortless precision by which the natural world governs itself.
- cosmological resonance between body, state, and cosmos
- syncretism of Daoist, Confucian, and Legalist material
- extends the Lüshi Chunqiu's encyclopedic model
- sponsored by an imperial prince later accused of treason
A 21-chapter compendium of cosmology, statecraft, and self-cultivation compiled by scholars at the court of Liu An, a Han imperial prince and grandson of the dynastic founder, and presented to his nephew Emperor Wu in 139 BC. Building on the eclectic, calendar-organized model of the earlier Lüshi Chunqiu, it fuses Daoist metaphysics, drawing directly and extensively on the Daodejing and Zhuangzi, with Legalist and Confucian statecraft and detailed cosmological material on astronomy, geography, and the resonance between the ruler's body and the state. Liu An was later accused of plotting rebellion and died in 122 BC, but the text he sponsored survived as the most complete extant statement of early Han syncretist Daoism.
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