The Recovery of Lu Xiujing’s Daughter: Family Ethics in Daoxue Zhuan 道學傳

This paper re-examines the story of Lu Xiujing’s 陆修静 (406–477) abandonment of his ailing daughter, as recorded in Daoxue zhuan 道學傳 (Biographies of the Adepts of the Dao, hereafter DXZ), to challenge prevailing scholarly interpretations of this story that emphasize Daoist familial renunciation as a Buddhist-influenced complete rejection of Confucian ethics. Through close analysis of biographies in DXZ, Lu’s own writings, and the compiler Ma Shu’s 馬樞 (522–581) life, the study criticizes the habitual thinking of scholars that overemphasizes the tendency of early medieval Chinese Daoism to leave home, and argues that DXZ takes the protagonists in the biographies as models to convey the ethical concept of striving to reconcile the Daoist concept of leaving home to pursue religion aim with the family harmony advocated by traditional Confucianism, and it offers some feasible ideas for resolving the Confucian–Daoist ethical tensions. Ma Shu’s biographical strategy, reflecting his own Confucian-educated background engaged with Daoist belief, positions Lu as an exemplar of this balance. By contextualizing these accounts within social realities and compiler intentionality, the study advances a revised understanding of early medieval Daoist ethics, that is, an effort to pursue the harmonious coexistence of religious pursuits and family care.