The intersection of body, self-cultivation and medical practice in the early Chinese philosophical classics: a phenomenological investigation

The fundamental principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) – outlined in medical classics like the Huangdi Neijing, Nan Jing and Shanghan Lun – were developed concurrently with a self-cultivation tradition that promoted physical, mental and spiritual refinement as a path to health and longevity. Each of these two traditions influenced the other in numerous respects, and each sprang from a broader intellectual milieu informed by the Chinese philosophical tradition. This dissertation will argue that the key to understanding the foundations of both the medical and self-cultivation traditions lies in the conception of the human body found in primarily Daoist philosophical classics like the Daodejing, Zhuangzi, Huainanzi and other texts – a conception that significantly differs from classical understandings of the human body in the West. The investigations into this distinctive understanding of the body will draw upon the phenomenology of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty in a comparative philosophical analysis, arguing that they can provide a useful tool for bridging the considerable gap in understanding between the two traditions. The dissertation will proceed with an exploration of numerous issues of classical Daoist cosmology, metaphysics, perception and bodily skill, demonstrating how each of these influences a distinctive approach toward the human body and its relationship with the world. It will then trace the subsequent development of this understanding of the body, examine its connection to health, disease and self-cultivation, and finally demonstrate how it allows portions of the medical classics to be read with a revitalized understanding.