Asian Art

Fan (Daoism)

In ancient China, the term fan (反; fǎn; 'return'', ''reversion'', ''inversion') became associated with a basic concept within Daoism: the Daodejing remarks "Reversal is the movement of the Way ... Being is born from nonbeing." Daoist texts use fan in three interconnected meanings: as 'return to the root', 'cyclical return', and 'return to the contrary'. In Chinese cosmology, everything in the universe emerges from the primordial Dao, continually transforms, and inevitably returns to it, which parallels the eternal return in philosophy or cyclic model in physical cosmology. Fan is also significant in Chinese alchemy and Daoist meditation.

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See also

• ▸Gandharan Buddhism
• ▸Bouvet Island
• ▸Irving Literary Society (Cornell University)

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